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Balancing a checkbook?

C

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Do people really sit down and do this dinosaur act anymore?

I can remember sitting down, BC (before computer) and writing out hoards of checks to pay bills. There was no such thing as a FICO score back then. There has always been a credit report, where any potential creditor would go for your rating, just like today. Then, all they saw was if you paid your bills on time.

Fast forward to today. I can't remember the last time I sat down and balanced a checkbook. I write one check a month and that is for my mortgage. Most other financial information I keep in my head. I pay virtually all bills online. I use a swag to figure out how much money I have and if there are outstanding transactions, I will wait for a few days for them to post, then my balance will be accurate. My debit card transactions show in real time, so I always know what is pending.

Been doing it this way for years and have never had an overdraft. I guess I am the one minute finance manager in my house.

Am I the only one who works by this model?
 
We do the checkbook still. Gotta make sure it matches the monthly statement. We don't pay bills online. I don't 100% trust the online checking to show us a real-time balance, because while we do the checkbook it rarely matches dead on with the online stuff.
 
Yeah, I just use the spreadsheets in Google Docs - track daily expenses & have due dates of fixed bills. Haven't made out a check in...years. It's pretty simple to jot down what you spent before you go to bed, then you always have an accurate picture of your balance.

They should teach this stuff in school. I never learned basic finances before moving out, so it was kind of tough for awhile on my own. I think a lot of people struggle with it.
 
Kaido said:
They should teach this stuff in school. I never learned basic finances before moving out, so it was kind of tough for awhile on my own. I think a lot of people struggle with it.
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We did "how to write a check" in grade school. It wasn't until Accounting in college that we learned how to use a ledger and balance accounts.

I agree with you, I think many people struggle with it. If parents aren't teaching it, schools aren't teaching it, where do you learn it from?

I used to do it all in my head. Got a couple overdrafts, and then got a 1-subject notebook for a ledger. No overdrafts since. that was over 10 years ago.
 
Trust but verify.

I have four checking accounts, each of them I balance monthly (one I'm required to by law). Take a look at the fine print from your bank-if you don't point out an error to them in a relatively short time you have legally waived it.

Bank of America recently amended their paper statements to no longer include the blank ledger sheet to balance your checkbook. A dickhead move in my view, clearly intended to make the paper statement totally worthless to encourage customers to switch to electronic statements and save the bank some postage.
 
Why wouldn't you balance a checkbook still? Just because you don't write paper checks.

Checking account still has debit card transactions, online bill pay, etc, which still need to be reconciled with something to get a balance.

Not everything shows up right away in the account, like bill pay. I log transactions in a checkbook as I spend money and then once a week or so I'll verify everything.

Otherwise you run the risk of forgetting about something and you never really know how much money is supposed to be there.
 
I use Quicken religiously. It automatically downloads my transactions for all accounts and I have a detailed financial history going back about 15 years at this point because of it.

The big thing that a program like Quicken allows for is to project forward. I usually input my bills and income about a month ahead of time in the program and can easily move money around without being worried about forgetting something.
 
I do all bills online, I only rarely write a check if I owe somebody something personally.

I've never really balanced check books. Had two checks bounce in my life and both weren't really my fault (bank was okay reversing the fees in both cases). People speak about balancing a check book as if it is anything more than super duper basic math and I've never understood how it is a challenge. You have a balance, you have income that adds to it and checks that subtract from it, how do people struggle?

We don't pay bills online.
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Oh God, like you do stamps and envelopes and things? Ugh. Not only is online faster and cheaper, but it's more reliable. You have no chance of a check going missing in the mail and everything is electronically tracked and audit-able.
 
ch33zw1z said:
We did "how to write a check" in grade school. It wasn't until Accounting in college that we learned how to use a ledger and balance accounts.

I agree with you, I think many people struggle with it. If parents aren't teaching it, schools aren't teaching it, where do you learn it from?

I used to do it all in my head. Got a couple overdrafts, and then got a 1-subject notebook for a ledger. No overdrafts since. that was over 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and my college program never had an accounting course either, so it was pretty much all self-learn. I think a lot of parents don't teach it because they don't know how to do it either. Apparently nearly 70% of Americans are in debt:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/03/21/census-household-debt-report/2007195/
 
Doppel said:
Oh God, like you do stamps and envelopes and things? Ugh. Not only is online faster and cheaper, but it's more reliable. You have no chance of a check going missing in the mail and everything is electronically tracked and audit-able.
Click to expand...

We may change at some point. But right now, that's how we do it and it's working fine.
 
Wife passed and I got the checkbook . It was the first time in 42 years that I had to track anything more complicated than my allowance. Downloaded a template for Excel and now manage the books. I wish I had the guts to go to online payment but I am too much old school to trust "bank". I write checks on Friday and only have 5 monthlies. Wasn't as hard as I thought. Just crib from screen to checkbook.
 
Doppel said:
I've never really balanced check books. Had two checks bounce in my life and both weren't really my fault (bank was okay reversing the fees in both cases). People speak about balancing a check book as if it is anything more than super duper basic math and I've never understood how it is a challenge. You have a balance, you have income that adds to it and checks that subtract from it, how do people struggle?
Click to expand...
People struggle when they can't get the book to match the statements. They made an error somewhere in either initial entry or a math error. It can be tough to find especially if there are multiple errors. You essentially have to go through it line by line. I think that's what they mean when they say it's a challenge.

We rarely write checks. Virtually everything is debited automatically. I do the financial stuff in our house. I check our accounts online frequently. My wife - never. It's important for our checkbook to show the correct balance if she needs to write a check.

Having said that, the savings account is where all the money is and I transfer to the checking as needed. An old habit that needs to stop as I'm just making needless work for myself.
 
TeeJay1952 said:
Wife passed and I got the checkbook . It was the first time in 42 years that I had to track anything more complicated than my allowance. Downloaded a template for Excel and now manage the books. I wish I had the guts to go to online payment but I am too much old school to trust "bank". I write checks on Friday and only have 5 monthlies. Wasn't as hard as I thought. Just crib from screen to checkbook.
Click to expand...
I went to autopay for everything I could a long while back after having some issues with the Post Office. Paid all my bills at one sitting, mailed them and none of them were received. None of them.
 
I track it all in an Excel spreadsheet. The online balance from my bank's website is almost always incorrect, and out of date with purchases that have been made and checks written.
 
I access my bank account about once a month. I used it to pay gas, water, electric, online. I go in, I see those 3 and my paycheck deposit. And then the draft from my CC. That's about it. A few others here and there. I use the CC for almost everything else. I don't see any need to record it otherwise.
 
boomerang said:
Having said that, the savings account is where all the money is and I transfer to the checking as needed. An old habit that needs to stop as I'm just making needless work for myself.
Click to expand...

doesnt your savings acct give better interest? my savings gives like %.6 whereas my checking only gives %.05, so i keep everything in savings except a little bit in checking.

and yes, i balance my checkbook every time i write a check. all of my friends do not. i cannot comprehend that they do not keep track of their money.
 
compuwiz1 said:
Do people really sit down and do this dinosaur act anymore?

I can remember sitting down, BC (before computer) and writing out hoards of checks to pay bills. There was no such thing as a FICO score back then. There has always been a credit report, where any potential creditor would go for your rating, just like today. Then, all they saw was if you paid your bills on time.

Fast forward to today. I can't remember the last time I sat down and balanced a checkbook. I write one check a month and that is for my mortgage. Most other financial information I keep in my head. I pay virtually all bills online. I use a swag to figure out how much money I have and if there are outstanding transactions, I will wait for a few days for them to post, then my balance will be accurate. My debit card transactions show in real time, so I always know what is pending.

Been doing it this way for years and have never had an overdraft. I guess I am the one minute finance manager in my house.

Am I the only one who works by this model?
Click to expand...


I used to spend a few hours a month trying to track down every penny vs what my statement said. Now, I don't do anything except to book checks (about 10 per year) and just look at it online. The intrawebs have become wonderful in that respect.
 
brianmanahan said:
doesnt your savings acct give better interest? my savings gives like %.6 whereas my checking only gives %.05, so i keep everything in savings except a little bit in checking.

and yes, i balance my checkbook every time i write a check. all of my friends do not. i cannot comprehend that they do not keep track of their money.
Click to expand...

You don't have to balance your checkbook to keep track of your money. You can use a good budget software to do that or use the banks online budgeting / calendar tool. Many banks are adding features like that to pull customers in, especially with shitty rates.

My 'local savings and checking' (linked) accounts pay 0.01% (yes, you read that right), unless you use the ATM debit card 6 times per month and then they bump it up a tad. I keep most my cash in an online bank elsewhere.
 
brianmanahan said:
i cannot comprehend that they do not keep track of their money.
Click to expand...

I can't comprehend how people can't keep track in their heads. If it's a few cents off, I don't give a shit. Balancing a checkbook wastes 1,000* more money than I might be losing/gaining because I didn't account for the exceptional checking account interest somewhere.
 
I don't balance my checkbook b/c I only have 6-7 transactions with my checking account in any given month. And I know the amounts of those transactions and that they post within 1 business day typically. I know what my beginning balance is, what transactions occur, and what my ending balance should be because I can see it all online and can keep track of the 6-7 transactions. I also do not spend more than I have.
 
Never saw the need.

Write one check for rent each month, then there are 3 debits for electricity, water and gas for 1st checking account. Other checking account is for paying cc balances. Both get a split direct deposit. Never buy anything with debit. Balance is only ever enough to cover bills. Rest is transferred to savings.
 
I have a (very) small business, and reconciling the bank balance on a monthly basis is imperative. Some vendors only take checks, some only want auto-pay, and with hundreds of transactions per month, there's not a month that goes by where some few things don't have to be added or altered to make balances line up.
 
My budget isn't so thin such that I need to keep up with it more than what my bank is already doing so there is no point.
One learns to be budget stuff really quick when only paid once a month. 😛
 
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