diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3b171aba..0153f8ed 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 *.py[cod]
 
+# vi:
+*.swp
+
 # C extensions
 *.so
 
@@ -45,6 +48,10 @@ env*/
 
 docs/_themes/jrnl/static/less/3L.less
 
+# wingide project files
+*.wpr
+*.wpu
+
 # PyCharm Project files
 .idea/
 
diff --git a/jrnl/cli.py b/jrnl/cli.py
index af60bbe4..e95502e3 100644
--- a/jrnl/cli.py
+++ b/jrnl/cli.py
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ import argparse
 import sys
 
 xdg_config = os.environ.get('XDG_CONFIG_HOME')
-CONFIG_PATH = os.path.join(xdg_config, "jrnl") if xdg_config else os.path.expanduser('~/.jrnl_config')
+CONFIG_PATH = os.path.join(xdg_config, "jrnl.yml") if xdg_config else \
+              os.path.expanduser('~/.jrnl_config.yml')
 PYCRYPTO = install.module_exists("Crypto")
 
 
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ def run(manual_args=None):
     if not os.path.exists(CONFIG_PATH):
         config = install.install_jrnl(CONFIG_PATH)
     else:
-        config = util.load_and_fix_json(CONFIG_PATH)
+        config = util.load_config(CONFIG_PATH)
         install.upgrade_config(config, config_path=CONFIG_PATH)
 
     if args.ls:
diff --git a/jrnl/install.py b/jrnl/install.py
index dcb83601..269623ef 100644
--- a/jrnl/install.py
+++ b/jrnl/install.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 import readline
 import glob
 import getpass
-import json
+import yaml
 import os
 from . import util
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ default_config = {
 }
 
 
-def upgrade_config(config, config_path=os.path.expanduser("~/.jrnl_conf")):
+def upgrade_config(config, config_path):
     """Checks if there are keys missing in a given config dict, and if so, updates the config file accordingly.
     This essentially automatically ports jrnl installations if new config parameters are introduced in later
     versions."""
@@ -43,16 +43,21 @@ def upgrade_config(config, config_path=os.path.expanduser("~/.jrnl_conf")):
         for key in missing_keys:
             config[key] = default_config[key]
         with open(config_path, 'w') as f:
-            json.dump(config, f, indent=2)
+            yaml.dump(config, f, indent=2, default_flow_style=False)
+            # when converting from original json version,
+            #  needed to quiet the yaml explicit unicode marking
+            # yaml.safe_dump(config, f, indent=2, allow_unicode=True)
         print("[.jrnl_conf updated to newest version]")
 
 
-def save_config(config=default_config, config_path=os.path.expanduser("~/.jrnl_conf")):
+# def save_config(config=default_config, config_path):
+def save_config(config, config_path):
     with open(config_path, 'w') as f:
-        json.dump(config, f, indent=2)
+        # yaml.safe_dump(config, f, indent=2, allow_unicode=True)
+        yaml.dump(config, f, indent=2, default_flow_style=False)
 
 
-def install_jrnl(config_path='~/.jrnl_config'):
+def install_jrnl(config_path):
     def autocomplete(text, state):
         expansions = glob.glob(os.path.expanduser(os.path.expandvars(text))+'*')
         expansions = [e+"/" if os.path.isdir(e) else e for e in expansions]
@@ -89,9 +94,10 @@ def install_jrnl(config_path='~/.jrnl_config'):
 
     open(default_config['journals']['default'], 'a').close()  # Touch to make sure it's there
 
-    # Write config to ~/.jrnl_conf
+    # Write config to ~/.jrnl_conf.yml
     with open(config_path, 'w') as f:
-        json.dump(default_config, f, indent=2)
+        # yaml.safe_dump(default_config, f, indent=2, allow_unicode=True)
+        yaml.dump(config, f, indent=2, default_flow_style=False)
     config = default_config
     if password:
         config['password'] = password
diff --git a/jrnl/util.py b/jrnl/util.py
index b06113c2..aa76cf6f 100644
--- a/jrnl/util.py
+++ b/jrnl/util.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import sys
 import os
 import getpass as gp
 import keyring
-import json
+import yaml
+import StringIO
 if "win32" in sys.platform:
     import colorama
     colorama.init()
@@ -87,30 +88,20 @@ def yesno(prompt, default=True):
     raw = py23_input(prompt)
     return {'y': True, 'n': False}.get(raw.lower(), default)
 
-def load_and_fix_json(json_path):
-    """Tries to load a json object from a file.
+def load_config(yaml_path):
+    """Tries to load a yaml object from a file.
     If that fails, tries to fix common errors (no or extra , at end of the line).
     """
-    with open(json_path) as f:
-        json_str = f.read()
+    with open(yaml_path) as f:
+        yaml_str = f.read()
     config = fixed = None
     try:
-        return json.loads(json_str)
+        f = StringIO.StringIO(yaml_str)
+        return yaml.load(f)
     except ValueError as e:
-        # Attempt to fix extra ,
-        json_str = re.sub(r",[ \n]*}", "}", json_str)
-        # Attempt to fix missing ,
-        json_str = re.sub(r"([^{,]) *\n *(\")", r"\1,\n \2", json_str)
-        try:
-            config = json.loads(json_str)
-            with open(json_path, 'w') as f:
-                json.dump(config, f, indent=2)
-            prompt("[Some errors in your jrnl config have been fixed for you.]")
-            return config
-        except ValueError as e:
-            prompt("[There seems to be something wrong with your jrnl config at {0}: {1}]".format(json_path, e.message))
-            prompt("[Entry was NOT added to your journal]")
-            sys.exit(1)
+        prompt("[There seems to be something wrong with your jrnl config at {0}: {1}]".format(yaml_path, e.message))
+        prompt("[Entry was NOT added to your journal]")
+        sys.exit(1)
 
 def get_text_from_editor(config, template=""):
     tmpfile = os.path.join(tempfile.mktemp(prefix="jrnl"))
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f0015be2..dd6d8f2f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ conditional_dependencies = {
     "readline>=6.2": not readline_available and "win32" not in sys.platform,
     "colorama>=0.2.5": "win32" in sys.platform,
     "argparse>=1.1.0": sys.version.startswith("2.6"),
-    "python-dateutil==1.5": sys.version.startswith("2."),
+    "python-dateutil>=1.5": sys.version.startswith("2."),
     "python-dateutil>=2.2": sys.version.startswith("3."),
 }
 
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ setup(
     install_requires = [
         "parsedatetime>=1.2",
         "pytz>=2013b",
+        "PyYAML>=3.11",
         "six>=1.6.1",
         "tzlocal>=1.1",
         "keyring>=3.3",