Today was payday and I dutifully wrote out my budget – how much I was spending on my credit card and line of credit, mortgage, tithes and what I was putting in my savings account.

I normally do most of my transactions through online banking and just deposit my mortgage payment in person. So after I did my online transactions, I headed over to the ATM to withdraw my mortgage payment and walk it five steps down the concourse to the bank that holds my mortgage. When I saw what was left in my account I had to double check.

There wasn’t enough!

Then I had to stop myself. There was plenty of money in there to pay for anything preauthorized payments that hadn’t already come out. I was just in the habit of keeping the remainder of my pay in my chequing account so I had money at my disposal.

Money at my disposal to waste. That’s what I had been doing: keeping too much money in an account that I could get to easily and without a second thought and spending because I could.

This fast isn’t just about saving, but breaking bad habits and building good new habits in baby steps.

BTW, as of Friday afternoon, I currently have $2.34 of my $25 for the week. Not too shabby 🙂