Jesse shares a story about growing sweet potatoes and shoveling dirt... lots and lots of dirt. There's a metaphor here about budgeting too. It's work, and sometimes takes a long time to pay off. But steady, sustainable work day after day yields big results!

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse shares a trick for improving your Rule Two planning (Embrace Your True Expenses), and better prepare for the next unexpected expense.

Jesse suggests pulling your last six months of bank statements, and quickly scanning them for large expenditures. Look at the number of digits, and flag the transactions that have a large number of digits (to you). This should only take a few minutes. Note the payee. This exercise is the first place to look when planning for future unexpected expenses. Did you get in a fender bender and end up with a $1,000 bill from the body shop? Did you hire a plumber to fix some leaking pipes in your basement? These are possible future expenses you can use Rule Two to plan for.

Now, hopefully you won't be getting into fender benders on a regular basis! But that auto shop expense might trigger you to think about upcoming regular car maintenance that you haven't yet budgeted for. Likewise, owning a house means regular maintenance, so at some point you're probably going to call a plumber out again. Time to assign money in your budget and plan for that!

This is a good, easy strategy for improving your Rule Two thinking, and put future you in a better financial position.

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse continues his rant about exploration of credit card use, observing that "paid in full" users are, technically, always in debt. Paid in full users are people who have the cash at any moment to pay off their credit card balance in full, but choose to pay off the balance before the next billing cycle. While they do pay off the balance regularly (monthly, or weekly, maybe even daily), and thus never incur interest, they are in debt until the moment they pay off the balance. And of course, after they have paid off the balance, they are again in debt as soon as they charge the next expense on their credit card.

Does the distinction matter though? Jesse ponders the question, and gives an update on his own experiment of only using a debit card for expenses in 2023.

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse talks with a man who has never used a credit card -- YNAB's own Ben Barlowe, who you may also recognize from the Budget Nerds podcast. Ben is 34 years old, has four children, a house (purchase with a mortgage), and a busy life! Believe it or not, he has been able to navigate life without ever having used a credit card.

Ben discusses the reasoning behind his personal decision to not use credit cards, how he obtained a mortgage with no credit score, and how he manages day to day expenses such as renting cars without a credit card.

Credit cards are ubiquitous these days, but that doesn't mean you HAVE to use one. Ben demonstrates that it's possible to have a robust, well-planned financial life without credit!

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com