Burning Man, a Bus, and a Beehive: Love the Way You Spend

This post is adapted from YNAB's twice-monthly newsletter, Loose Change. 

Michael, one of our developers at YNAB, was trying to solve a small transportation problem. He and his friends were planning to go to their second Burning Man festival, but they had too many people for one car. So he rented a car, carpooled, decided to buy a cheap bus.

“How expensive could it be?” he thought.  

“I looked at a bunch of partial school bus conversions but ended up impulse-buying a decommissioned city bus. No idea how to drive it, nowhere to store it, and not even sure how to get fuel in it, there was a lot of scrambling in the first week.  

I rented a parking space, talked up the bus drivers on my morning commute for handling tips, and had a crash course on diesel mechanics.  Built a dance floor and a sound stage and even set up a business to protect myself in case someone fell off the roof.

A year later, I wanted to do more serious welding, but the lot owner wouldn’t let me work there. I realized renting an apartment, a parking space, and workshop space was more expensive than a mortgage, so I bought a house.  

My search filter was “100' long driveway,” which gave very limited results. Ended up buying a prepper’s compound outside the city, which came with a small orchard, beehive, and chicken coop.  

Suddenly I was a farmer?  

Nothing like getting home from work and realizing you need to pick and process 100 lbs of kiwi that night. Made a lot of tasty jam.

The bus and the house are gone now, and I’m thankful for all these experiences, but I’d be a much different person if I’d been a little less impulsive and we’d just taken two cars to the Burn.”

Imagine if Michael had simply said a bus is not in the plan. (A reasonable position!)

At YNAB, we teach the importance of giving every dollar a job, which is, in a sense, making a plan for your money. We do this because when you don’t bring awareness and intention to your spending, you tend to make sub-optimal choices (or no choices at all). Without spendfulness, you spend on things you don’t care about and don’t spend on things you do care about.

But plans can also be limiting—they can represent what we used to want. We continue to follow the plan anyway because we want to feel like we’re being “good” with our money and responsible. We can also adopt someone else’s plan and convince ourselves to stick to it.

In this case, you should buy a bus. Or, at least, be open to the idea that when you give every dollar a job, that’s just today’s guess. It's ok if you don't know where exactly some interest, opportunity, or priority will take you. No one is asking you to write a report on your 10-year plan for taking pottery classes or learning Portuguese.

Michael spent money without knowing exactly where he’d end up. He saw a doorway with a decommissioned city bus and walked through it. 

You work hard for your money. Shouldn't it make you happy? Discover what it's like to love the way you spend with a free trial of YNAB.

YNAB IRL: Niche Interests, Fully Funded

Kay filed this report from Virginia, where she minds the shelves as a librarian in between trips to Portugal and the Harry Potter store.

I read the YNAB book and then realized it was an app. Pff. No way am I going to pay for an app. The book helped me to pay off my credit cards for good. See. I don’t need an app. COVID. Roommate lost her job. I needed to find a new apartment without roommates in a high-cost-of-living area. Panic.
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Well, I will try the app for a few days to see how I can afford an apartment. OMG WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE. Take all of my money. I don’t care how much the app costs, the literal peace of mind is priceless.
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My biggest accomplishment?
‍I went from dollars to over $25k in cash.
I cannot express enough the amount of peace I feel. Car needs $1,800 repairs. Eh. It’s in the budget. Less than three years ago, this would have destroyed me for weeks and months. Three years ago, at any given time I would be lucky to have $20 in the checking account. And honestly, it would be more like less than $5. I now have over $25k. How is this possible? 
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That number just brings me peace. My stress and anxiety about money is almost nonexistent.
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In other interesting news…
‍I saved for a NYC Harry Potter trip and recently lost my mind at the Harry Potter store but, whatever, it is in the budget. I’m saving for a trip to Portugal in 2024 and a 4-week trip in Japan 2026. 
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Top financial dream?
‍A house and hopefully retire early.