Small victories

Well, after yesterday's claim that I never have any money left over on payday, I have decided to tackle this issue. I think the key here is that, after I set aside savings and pay my bills, I tend to look at the money that's left and think "I have to spend all that somehow." This is not a particularly frugal way of thinking, but I don't think it's that uncommon. I need to lose this mindset and focus on having as much of that money left over as possible at the end of the pay period.

Well, I've taken a step toward this goal: today I transferred the remaining $27.50 from my chequing account into savings. I get paid tomorrow, so this is essentially a commitment not to spend any money today. The difference between this and how I usually operate is that I have made this commitment up front, rather than keeping that cash on hand and "hoping" that I won't spend it.

I know that $27.50 isn't exactly going to change my life, but if I get into the habit of making and keeping these commitments to myself, I will be in a much better place.

Another bit of progress this week: I submitted a request to transfer the balance of my Employee Savings Plan (ESP) into my brokerage RSP account. Since the ESP only allows me to hold my company's stock, this move will allow me to diversify my holdings. I've found some index funds that I like, and once the transfer is complete, I will be selling my stocks and buying into these funds.

When this is taken care of, I will be able to sit back and put on my "long-term investor" hat to ride out this market correction.