The 'pay yourself first' vs. 'zero-based budget' debate

I been doing zero-based budgeting for like 2 years and it worked fine but last month I tried something different. Got my paycheck and immediately moved $400 into savings before touching anything else. Rest went to bills and food. Felt weird because with zero-based I track every single dime but this time I just ignored where the savings went. The problem is my savings actually grew faster than usual because I never saw the money. But then I had a $200 car repair come up and I had to pull from that same savings which kinda defeated the purpose. My old method would have caught that expense ahead of time. So which wins here? Does protecting the savings from yourself beat the risk of emergency costs? Anyone else hit this wall?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin12d ago

Man I’ve totally been there, it’s a rough spot to be stuck between two good methods.

the_kevin12d ago

Funny how that works in all kinds of decisions, not just the big ones. Even picking a parking spot or which checkout line to use can feel like a whole dilemma.