Why Don’t You Take a Picture, It’ll Last Longer

When I bought my house, the previous owner left behind two things: a photo of her and her husband on the day they bought the house, and a folder with a room-by-room breakdown of receipts, warranties, and contractor business cards for every appliance and repair.

(She also left me her cat. Theodore was far more fun than the folder, though admittedly less helpful for home maintenance.)

As a thoroughly overwhelmed first time home owner, I had no idea what a gift this would turn out to be. Every time I’ve needed to do something for the house, my first stop is her folder to help me make a more informed choice. And I’ve kept up the tradition. It’s the place I record everything that’s happened with the house since I’ve owned it. Someday, I’ll leave it on the kitchen counter for the next elatedly terrified new owner along with her picture and a picture of the day I moved in. 

Having one place to look for all the important information has been a lifesaver. It means fewer guesses, fewer frantic searches, and better decisions when something comes up.

That’s exactly the role our new photos feature can play in your financial life.

By popular demand, you can now add a photo to transactions in your YNAB plan!

Adding images to transactions is a simple way to give your future self more context about your spending, making it easier to understand what happened and decide what to do next. Here’s how to do it:

• In the mobile app, tap on a transaction and then tap the Photo button in the Transaction Details. 
• On the web, click the Photo icon on the left side of any transaction in the Account Register. 

Any photo you add will show up as a thumbnail on that transaction and will expand when you click on it. Your photos are not visible to our Support team if you give us access to your plan to help you with something, but they will be visible to anyone you share a plan with.

So how does this help you worry less and make more informed financial decisions? I’m so glad you asked.

How Adding Photos to Your Plan Works in the Wild

All we need to know for most of our spending is when, where, and how much, but for some things, a picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine:

• You just bought the coolest piece of art from a booth at the annual art festival downtown. You snap a pic of the artist’s details and add it to the transaction. When your friend, clearly in awe of your great taste, wants to know where they can get something similar, you know that info is a quick YNAB search away.
• Your partner picks up a few things while out with friends. You tend to be the one who handles the transactions in YNAB, so they snap a quick picture of the receipt and attach it to a placeholder transaction so you have all the info you need when you want to figure out how to split the transaction in YNAB.
• You set your bags down in your hotel room and look out at the ocean. You gather the family together for a quick selfie before heading down to the beach and, after sending the photo to some loved ones, you attach it to the final payment transaction for this trip. This is your first, fully-funded vacation. It deserves recognition.
• The house is dry. The water is back on the inside of the water heater, where it should be, and the plumber hands you their card on the way out the door. You add a photo of their business card to the transaction so you know right where it is if you need it in the future and you check your dining out category while you’re there because disaster nights need food cooked by someone else.
• Tomorrow is the big game and the UPS guy just delivered your brand new TV. Like your team, you put in the work. You’ve been assigning extra dollars to your New TV category for months. You settle into your favorite spot on the couch, snap a picture of the warranty information for the TV, and add it to the purchase transaction before starting to browse recipes for game-essential snacks.
• You’re standing at the counter at the doctor’s office ready to pay and that’s when you remember that your HSA card is sitting on your dresser at home. You put it there specifically so you’d remember to bring it with you, and yet. You pay with your normal card while wondering if you earn points for medical purchases and add a photo of the receipt to the transaction so you can reimburse yourself when you get home.
• Steve the cat got out again and it’s time to get him chipped. Steve, still delighted at getting to sit on Ms. Hampstead’s windowsill to taunt her pomeranian, doesn’t seem to mind the shot and you take a moment in the parking lot to attach a picture of the microchip details. You can practically see him planning his next adventure and you want to be prepared to make sure he always gets home afterward.
• You walk into that cozy little coffee shop three towns over. You’ve only been there once before, but you remember really liking it. Unfortunately, it’s one of those places with drink names like Java-the-Hutt and you can’t remember the name of the spectacular drink you had last time. Luckily, you did add a picture of the drink to the transaction since it was so good. You show it to the barista and before you know it, you’re curled up in a comfy chair sipping your Brew-yonce. Money well spent.

Whenever it would be helpful to have more context on a transaction, snap a quick picture and you’ll have it safely stored in YNAB forever. No more random drawer full of receipts, business cards, warranties, and probably at least one takeout menu. Put it in YNAB and you can remove that worry from your life with one quick snap.

Your transactions are a record of where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing, and what’s important to you. The way you spend tells the story of your life. Adding photos just gives that story a little more context.