He didnt look so good in the second fight against aldo . <| sep |> If you thank obama , but don ' t know why , you might have been # brainwashed <| sep |> Not trying to sound like a parrot on this conversation I ' ll try to offer what YNAB means for me and how I ' ve see it help people not only get out of debt but get ahead . At the end of the day YNAB is not a magical cure for getting out of DEBT I ' m sorry . Now with that said it most certainly will help you tremendously in achieving your goals and therefore you must make getting out of your DEBT your GOAL ! Currently you are getting hit with interest which no one ever want ' s to pay your throwing your money away . But it sounds like you do not have a solid emergency fund the first thing you should do is immediately save up $ 1000 . 00 if you don ' t already have one . That way in the event that you have an emergency you are not putting it on a CREDIT CARD and going right back to getting into debt . The next step that you always hear about is tackling the DEBT SNOWBALL where you choose the smallest debt in your case smallest credit card and pay it off once it has been cleared cutclose that account so you are not likely to use it again . By taking this small debt you free up the minimum payment you ' d be making on it to tackle more debt . Continue your approach for each debt in increasing size until your debt free . The above is a quick summary of David Ramsey ' s step 1 and 2 for getting out of debt . A proven strategy for getting out of debt and getting ahead . My recommendation is not to just take my advice alone but to consider furthering your education for getting ahead with finances . YNAB offers a wonderful youtube series on budgeting or you can buy a book The Total Money Makeover with millions of sold copies to help you get educated on how to get out of debt . Personal Use I ' m fortunate to never have gotten myself into debt I can thank grandparents growing up in the great depression teaching otherwise . I use YNAB as a way to not only track but also PLAN my money and what it will accomplish . The ultimate guideline is that my spending is always less than my income and I budget my monthly expenses to ensure that I stick within the means of my income . Once I account for for my monthly living expenses I then create savings goals or in your case debt spending goals by setting a target date say next February and then allocating enough that month in my paycheck as a bill to myself I know that by my target month I ' ll have saved up or paid off a bill . Always ensuring that even my monthly debt and savings personal bills to myself fit within my overall monthly budget combined with living expenses . Monthly Income Monthly Expensesrent , food , etc DebtSavings Expensesplanned monthly spending to tackle a debtor save for a event 0 To never dip into emergency fund or go into debtThe one take away I ' d say is we are never perfect like your eating out budget the more we use our budget we refine it to our lifestyles such as allocating more money to groceries then we first intended or cutting back our lifestyles such as eating out once we truly know how much it costs us . Once you are budgeting you are in charge of your income and can start tackling debt in a meaningful planned out manner . At this point It sounds like a ramble . I hope this helps if you have any particular questions I ' d be happy to answer them the best I can .