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do you balance your checkbook?
- Thread starter puffff
- Start date
HardcoreRobot
Lifer
i do it to make sure people arent charging me more than they are supposed to. this is mostly for my debit card purchases.
GTaudiophile
Lifer
I keep a paper trail. CC companies and banks still send me statements, I file them, and I write out and mail in my checks. I check each CC statement against kept CC receipts. I've caught errors before, and I refuse to trust all these people with my money. I want to be involved and I want to be aware as to my exact financial position. I want to know before I get screwed...and I want to be ready for an IRS audit!
To do all of that, it takes me like 3 hours per month. If you don't have that much time to care about your personal finances, that's just foolish and stupid IMO.
To do all of that, it takes me like 3 hours per month. If you don't have that much time to care about your personal finances, that's just foolish and stupid IMO.
I have found two bank errors in the past 3 years. I have also found hundreds of errors my wife and I have made (transposed numbers, missed transactions, added instead of substracted). Without the balancing, she and I would be making purchasing decisions on incorrect data and would be very likely to over draw our account of other similar problems.
These errors would cost us time, money and credit rating.
imported_vr6
Platinum Member
I balance my checkbook each time i use my bank card. I am a college student, so theres no room for error or i would be paying overdrafting fees left and right.
dullard
Elite Member
If you are a teenager or young adult, then probably check balancing is less important. Those people typically only have a few charges on their checking account per week - if that. Thus it is easy to keep track in your head of the withdrawls done during the day/week and then that memorized information can be easilly checked online.
But that is a bad, bad habit to get into. Once you are in the real world, you might have 10-20 withdrawls in a day. Are you going to remember each and every one of them? Are you going to be able to check online every day to be certain everything is perfect before you forget? You will likely reach a point in your life where the answer is no to at least one of those questions. That is where checkbook balancing comes in.
It is a simple task that takes just a few minutes per month. (1) you write down everything deposited / withdrawn from your account. To make things even easier, there are duplicate checks available so you don't even have to take the time to write down the checks yourself. (2) you add them up and see if it matches what the bank says is in your account. (3) If they don't match - which is quite common - you go to the bank and get your money back. You have very little time to do so otherwise the bank legally keeps your money - which could easilly be hundreds of dollars lost if not more.
Example of a common problem: Suppose you are in the middle of a great vacation and internet access isn't on your mind. You write a check for $56.00. For some reason, the teller who cashes the check transposed the numbers and withdraws $65 from your account and transfers $65 into the store's account. As far as the bank is concerned, everything balances ($65 removed from one place and $65 deposited in another) and the bank will never know. When you get back from vacation 2 weeks later, will you remember each and every withdrawl and not accidently transpose the numbers in your head? Or will you have that $56 written down so you know you got screwed by $9?
But that is a bad, bad habit to get into. Once you are in the real world, you might have 10-20 withdrawls in a day. Are you going to remember each and every one of them? Are you going to be able to check online every day to be certain everything is perfect before you forget? You will likely reach a point in your life where the answer is no to at least one of those questions. That is where checkbook balancing comes in.
It is a simple task that takes just a few minutes per month. (1) you write down everything deposited / withdrawn from your account. To make things even easier, there are duplicate checks available so you don't even have to take the time to write down the checks yourself. (2) you add them up and see if it matches what the bank says is in your account. (3) If they don't match - which is quite common - you go to the bank and get your money back. You have very little time to do so otherwise the bank legally keeps your money - which could easilly be hundreds of dollars lost if not more.
Example of a common problem: Suppose you are in the middle of a great vacation and internet access isn't on your mind. You write a check for $56.00. For some reason, the teller who cashes the check transposed the numbers and withdraws $65 from your account and transfers $65 into the store's account. As far as the bank is concerned, everything balances ($65 removed from one place and $65 deposited in another) and the bank will never know. When you get back from vacation 2 weeks later, will you remember each and every withdrawl and not accidently transpose the numbers in your head? Or will you have that $56 written down so you know you got screwed by $9?
randomlinh
Lifer
I keep tabs of all my payments, and check charges... anything i notice as suspicious, I start digging. I don't write checks, mostly pay everything electronically, but I print pdf's of reports, receipts, etc... anything that has a record number. So if I need it, I have some kind of proof.
All this (and all my documents) are then backed up weekly to a second drive, and soon another computer, and of course to CD as well 🙂 Can we say paranoid about my data?
All this (and all my documents) are then backed up weekly to a second drive, and soon another computer, and of course to CD as well 🙂 Can we say paranoid about my data?
I think this is pretty much the optimal solution if you pay in full every month. Gotta love those CC bonuses 🙂
For me though, I have so much money floating in and out of my paypal/neteller accounts that I balance daily 🙁 Since I do it all on the internet though, it's pretty easy, I just keep my checkbook next to my computer.
FrustratedUser
Lifer
Pretty much the way I do it too. I've started paying my bill online now. Only thing I need checks for are the rent.
Everything else gets charged on the CC and paid in full each month.
dullard
Elite Member
Do you check to see if the CC purchases are correct? If so, then you do balance your accounts. Same thing, but just a different account.
If you enter your withdrawls / deposits into Quicken to calculate how much you have then yes you DO balance your account. You just have a computer program do it for you. Same thing.
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