My Surprisingly Long Journey to Budgeting Smarter: From Pocket Money to YNAB
You Need a Budget
TL;DR
YNAB(You Need A Budget) is a genuinely helpful starter-friendly money system wrapped in a very readable, practical book. It won’t magically fix your finances for you but it will give you a clear, realistic framework that you can immediately apply to your life. For beginners or anyone feeling lost with budgeting, this is an excellent place to start. For people who already track their money or have a solid budgeting habit, the concepts may feel simple… but still grounding, and worth reflecting on. Overall, it’s a solid, practical guide that helps you understand not just how to budget, but why your priorities matter.
I still remember the first time I ever had to manage money. I was about twelve. My father stood my brother and me by the door as he was leaving for work, handed me 5,000 won (about $5) and my brother 3,000 won, and said, “This is your allowance for the next two weeks. Write down how you spend it, or you won’t get more next time.”
So, with a brand-new notebook my mum bought for me, I started tracking every little chocolate bar, sticker, and snack I bought.
My dad didn’t check the notebook every time… but the habit stuck.
When I received my first salary years later, the habit changed shape but stayed with me. Regular pay meant I could track my monthly patterns - how much went to food, to fun, to savings. It felt natural.
Then I moved to Sydney… and everything got expensive.
I was job-hunting, money was tight, and suddenly my neat little system didn’t work anymore. My expenses were messy, unpredictable. I created spreadsheets for monthly spending, spreadsheets for savings goals, spreadsheets for different bank accounts… At the beginning and end of every month, I spent ages organising everything.
And when I started living with my partner, managing our shared money with my old complicated system wasn’t going to work.
That’s when we found YNAB.
And why the book caught my attention
I started using the YNAB app first, just to try it. At first glance, it seemed like just another budgeting app - but it wasn’t. It worked completely differently from what I was used to.
Then I learned the creator had a book, You Need A Budget by Jesse Mecham, and… of course I had to read it. If I was going to use the system seriously, I wanted to understand the philosophy behind it.
