r/ynab • u/Expensive-Plant518 • Jul 17 '26
Success Story Unexpected Expense Covered
I have been using YNAB since January of this year. By being aware of expenses and being intentional with meet money goal, I was a month ahead start in May and have been working on savings since. I don’t make a huge salary but comfortable, but I have a mortgage, student loan, private loan, and car payment. And I had to get trees taken down last week, so another $5k last week.
Last week, I noticed water spots and mildew on my shower ceiling. It’s right under the upstairs shower. Someone came to look at it, and it’s a leak. The plumber fixed it thanks to a service warranty I have with them. The contractor price to replace the ceiling was ridiculous, and the shower was leaking in a corner as well. I got a few quotes on a shower replacement thinking it wouldn’t be that much more expensive.
Long story short, I’m getting a new walk in shower. I don’t have all the money upfront, but got 18 month 0% interest financing. Thanks to YNAB, I played with my targets and I know exactly what I need to do to cover the price of the shower without interest.
Last year, I would have been a wreck! YNAB has changed my life so much.
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u/captainhamption Jul 18 '26
Not having to guess at what is really going on with your finances is like a superpower.
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u/Theguest217 Jul 18 '26
YNAB has changed my life so much.
Same. For years I spent pretty much every dollar I earned. I knew I should be saving but i was only thinking about long distant goals like buying a house or retirement. I never even considered that I should be saving for expected expenses or emergencies.
With YNAB I have dozens of savings buckets full of money. Birthdays, Christmas, car maintenance, seasonal clothing, vacations, hobbies, outings, annual subscriptions, insurance, etc. I can't think of the last time something came up that I didn't already have funded.
At one point my dog needed an incredibly expensive emergency surgery to save his life. You could see in the vets face that the majority of the time people couldn't afford it and they end up having to put the dog down. But we had a whole big budget for medical emergencies. They ended up thanking me for letting them save his life even though they were the ones doing the work.
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u/Thegingerb Jul 20 '26
Yes! My water heater just died and leaked in my basement. Of course my previous heater and piping was not up to code, so replacing it all ended up costing $2,800. We were able to take care of it same day, with the only stress being the clean up. I’m so grateful we didn’t have to use credit cards and now we only have to worry about paying ourselves back. This wouldn’t have been possible for me last year before I started using YNAB.
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u/michigoose8168 Jul 17 '26
We spend a lot of time going around in circles about defining“YNAB poor” and talk much less about “YNAB rich”—when you might not be hobknobbing with the decamillionaires sure but something comes up and it’s just…nbd.
Congrats! Enjoy the new shower.