Why I Almost Paid €180/Year to Track My Groceries
An honest look at YNAB - what it does well, where it's overkill, and what I use instead.
5 min read
Let me be upfront: I never fully committed to YNAB.
I did the trial. I watched the intro videos. I connected my bank account and spent an evening setting up budget categories. And then I quietly stopped using it.
Not because it's bad software - YNAB is genuinely well-designed and has a devoted following for good reason. I stopped because every time I opened it, I felt like I was doing homework.
The methodology is real. "Give every dollar a job" is a solid framework. The reports are detailed. The mobile app is polished. If you have complex finances, multiple accounts, and you want a system you'll actually internalize - YNAB probably earns its €15/month.
But here's what I kept coming back to: I don't have complex finances. I have income, I have expenses, and I want to know at a glance whether I'm on track this month. That's it.
YNAB felt like buying a professional kitchen knife set to make toast.
So I started looking for something simpler. My requirements were:
- No bank sync (I don't love giving apps access to my accounts)
- No learning curve
- Just: income in, expenses out, balance visible
- Cheap enough that I don't think about the cost
I ended up building it myself. It's called Monthli.
€3/month. No bank sync. You add your income, set your expense categories, and log as you go. That's the whole app.
Is it less powerful than YNAB? Obviously. It doesn't have rollover budgeting, debt tracking, or goal planning. If you need those things, use YNAB - it's genuinely good at them.
But if you just want to know where your money goes each month without a subscription that costs more than most streaming services, it might be exactly enough.
I'm not saying YNAB is bad. If you have complex finances, multiple accounts, and you want a comprehensive system built around a proven methodology - YNAB is probably worth it.
But if you're like me - someone who just wants to know where the money goes each month without a learning curve or a bank sync - Monthli is worth trying first.
The trial is free. It takes less time to set up than it took you to read this post.