Quote Originally Posted by Becky View Post
We did the one-car thing for awhile and it just doesn't work for us. DH's car is more than paid for (due to be replaced, even), and mine will be paid off in 2 months. The plan is to save up a significant chunk of money towards his car before we begin shopping.

I think part of this may be changing my mindset about long-term savings goals, in order to fund the buffer first and allow us to budget further ahead (like Tulip has done). We've been socking aside significant savings to severals goals, but maybe I need to free up those funds for the buffer and delay our other goals.

I have to confess: budgeting in YNAB is fun for me. I love seeing each dollar do a job, sitting down on payday to assign jobs to those checks, and prioritizing our needs each month.
We don't use YNAB, but I have kept us on a budget sheet for many years. I have to say, it's MUCH more fun budgeting when you actually have "extra" money; rather than the old version of "holy cow, how are we going to pay the power bill this month!".