I am saving for a house right now so I wanted to see what it would be like to have a mortgage.
I set up a ING account and have $1,000 a month taken out automatically from my checking account. So that plus my $800 rent I know I can afford at least a $1,800 mortgage plus I have an account with some money building up for a down payment.
You could do the same thing with a car, put $250 away a month and have a nice down payment in a little while and know what you can afford each month.