#132 - Ernie's 2026 Categories
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Ben. And I'm Ernie.
And you're listening to Budget Nerds.
No, you are not. Well, today, Ernie, it's a fun day. I think we always love these episodes. We haven't done this in a while, but it's time to go over your categories because you've told me you've made some changes since the last time we just went through them. And yeah, I'm excited to see what you got. So I'm just going to go through them.
I am so excited. Like, honestly, I've been thinking about this episode for weeks, like just running through my categories. What am I going to say about them? So, and it has been a while. I don't even remember the last time we went through our categories, but yeah, I felt like it was time to do it again. And I think the biggest change... Actually, let me back up. Let me give you the context of my plan. So family of five living in the Midwest. You know this, but a lot of the audience maybe doesn't. It's me, my wife, Christy, and we have three older boys. Two of them have graduated high school. One is still in school. And we live in the Midwest. So that's kind of where we're coming from.
That's good. Yeah. I don't think we ever really when we do these episodes, I don't think we really ever give that context. I think it's important.
It is important. Yeah. Especially as we've been doing more of these interviews with people, you realize, oh, wow, it's totally different on the other side of the country for you than it is for me here in Wisconsin. Totally. Totally.
Yeah, okay. And we're just going to go through. And are you going to talk about changes to habits and all the procedures too? Or are we just focusing on the categories here?
I'm going to talk a little bit about everything. We'll get some targets in there maybe. We'll talk about some habits. We'll just talk about my thought process for some of these decisions that I've made. I think it's going to be good. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
All right. I think we should just jump right in because no time to waste here.
Let's do it. So high level, 72 categories, seven groups. I probably should have said that the other way around. Seven groups, 72 categories. This is probably the most categories that I've had in a while.
I think you've expanded because I think you were more like in the 50s last time.
Yes. Or something like that. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. So I'll get more into that in a bit. Wow. So you've really changed things. It's not just like a little bit, like this is a big change.
And then the other big change is, so we're recording this on December 9th. It's not releasing until January 14th, but the categories that you see today, they're going to be my categories in January.
Okay.
Oh, so you're not using them right now yet. This is like your future planned plan.
No, no, no. I'm not making a fresh start. So my plan as is, is going to carry myself into the new year because you guys know, like I've been doing a fresh start every single year for boy. I can't even remember how long it's been. Right. And then this year I decided, nope, I'm not going to do that anymore. And the primary reason is system of record. I just, I really came to appreciate the data a little bit more.
Yeah. And just having it all in one place. Like I still dream of like, I still dream of just like a software thing where we could like search everything, like all the plans in one place. That would be awesome. But right now it's not possible. So like it is breaking it up does, it does matter. So like, you're like, Oh, what's that restaurant we went to like a year ago, you'd have to like pull up a different plan and search it. And, Oh, it's not in that one. It's in this one.
Yes. Yeah, that whole thing. And I've really surprised myself with that. There's so many times throughout the year, and I think it's especially when Christy and I and the family travel, and we're like, oh, what about that restaurant in that city in that year? And then I have to, you know, figure out, oh, what year was that? And I have to go and find that old plan. And it would just be nice to have everything all right there in one plan.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–7:34
2
Why is Ernie carrying his 2025 YNAB plan into 2026 instead of a fresh start?
7:34–7:44
3
How many categories and groups does Ernie set up for his 2026 budget?
7:44–14:46
4
How does Ernie manage credit cards and rewards within his budget?
14:46–37:10
5
What monthly categories did Ernie adjust and why (insurance, groceries, utilities)?
37:10–1:05:35
6
Why did Ernie split and detail his non-monthly (true expenses) categories?
1:05:35–1:16:14
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Budget Nerds
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Ben & Ernie LIVE Today on YouTube 3:30pm ET
#139 - Sixteen YNAB Features Hidden in Plain Sight