I've used YNAB and other budgeting software in the past, but I've never felt super-disciplined. Mostly, I allocate money to different fixed expenses, savings, and investments, then play with the rest.

This book goes into the philosophy of budgeting that every dollar should have a job. It's a great idea of turning something that seems fluid and opened-ended into a zero sum game that forces you to think about opportunity costs and tradeoffs..

Budgeting doesn't mean being restrictive, it means setting exactly where your money goes. Use your budget to write your future.

If I were to make one criticism, it's that investing is almost totally absent from this model of personal finance. In some examples, people have large piles of cash in their bank accounts, despite longstanding advice of financial advisors to have no more than 30% of your assets in cash.

It's a great intro to personal financing, and certainly a strong competitor to the restrictive style of budgeting and debt management that David Ramsey is known for.