balancing your bank account

[TianXiaXueXiao]

I made an excel workbook that I use to track and balance our bank accounts and budget for the year. I was a non-profit accountant in a former life. Since we live paycheck to paycheck it is necessary that I update the current month's spreadsheet weekly.

[gardenmom5]

LLMom, on 14 Jan 2015 - 08:09 AM, said:

  they said they don't balance their accounts either.  

:huh:  :huh:   :ohmy:  :svengo:  :svengo: :svengo:  

 

 

dh's background is finance. he knows where every penny goes.  he started  in banking - there is no way he'd ever trust a bank to "balance" our accounts.   I think only one of my kids might not balance his accounts (and 2ds is majoring in accounting. he wants to get a cpa.)

[Mergath]

How do you not write checks? I don't write many; I pay most of my bills online, but what about personal things like the piano teacher, tutor, gifts, etc.

Cash.

[Catwoman]

We budget with an app, but as far as I can tell my husband uses our online statements to keep the accounts balanced. He does it mysteriously and with much efficacy, so I've never asked questions. We always end up with everything paid, no outstanding purchase or balance issues at tax time with either business or personal accounts, and nothing has ever been shut off.

 

I just smile, nod, and ask before I purchase anything so he can make sure the money isn't allotted to a bill pay and is on the right card. I LOVE that my husband is so competent in this area and I don't have to think about it. Receipts go into the budget program, that's about it on my end :)

You should definitely make sure you know how to do everything he does, though, in case of an emergency.

 

We own a CPA firm and we have seen many instances where one spouse has always handled everything, but at some point, the other spouse is left alone and has no clue how to deal with finances. It is so scary for them.

 

It is very important to know where all the assets are, as well as how money is managed, even if you aren't going to be the one handling it on a regular basis right now.

[SparklyUnicorn]

How do you not write checks?  I don't write many; I pay most of my bills online, but what about personal things like the piano teacher, tutor, gifts, etc. 

 

I pay those people in cash.  Most of them take cards too though.  I know they don't appreciate getting checks.  They will take them, but they do not like them because that means a trip to the bank.  The only time I HAVE to go to the bank is if I get a check.  It's pretty annoying. 

 

For those people that don't take a debit/credit card I sometimes still use my automatic bill pay.  If the bank can't automatically transfer money to that person they will generate a check and mail it on my behalf.  I don't do that often though. 

[PeacefulChaos]

I still do it.

Not with quicken. I actually do it the old fashioned way... I have a notebook I keep track of everything in. I check it against my account online and then double check it with my monthly statement.

[Arcadia]

I check all our accounts online but I don't balance them. We have two cheques per month and keep an excess in the checking account to cover those, everything else is online bill pay or cash payment.

 

When I am in the mood to check the arithmetic of the bank statements, I can download my statements into Excel and run a quick computation there.

 

I do check the bank calculate my mortgage interest correctly. So far no errors.

[BusyMom5]

I do mine every few months, it's just a few checks.  I also have a small business, 100+ checks a month, and yes, I balance it the old-fashioned way.  I'm now wondering if I am missing something w/ on-line banking, but since we write so many checks from this account, I can't see how on-line banking would work.  It seems it would be too much going back and forth. 

[Punks in Ontario]

If you're talking about reconciling your accounts, I do this every couple of weeks.  I haven't balanced a cheque book in years though.  Electronically, it's not a big deal.

[LLMom]

For me, writing a check is easier than going to the bank to get cash.  One of the disadvantages to living in the sticks.

[kitten18]

I haven't kept any kind of check register in 15+ years, since we started doing online banking.

[KathyBC]

I balance my cheque register against the online statement every week or two. Once a month, at the very least.

[DragonFaerie]

You should definitely make sure you know how to do everything he does, though, in case of an emergency.

 

We own a CPA firm and we have seen many instances where one spouse has always handled everything, but at some point, the other spouse is left alone and has no clue how to deal with finances. It is so scary for them.

 

It is very important to know where all the assets are, as well as how money is managed, even if you aren't going to be the one handling it on a regular basis right now.

 

I "liked" this, but it bears repeating.  My mother is going through this even now, seven months after my dad passed. It's been very hard for her, learning how to manage everything when he had always done it.

[milovany]

I still do it.

Not with quicken. I actually do it the old fashioned way... I have a notebook I keep track of everything in. I check it against my account online and then double check it with my monthly statement.

 

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're not doing math to make sure everything comes out to the penny by marking off checks that have been cashed, noting ones that haven't, and making sure that there's exactly enough money for the ones that haven't been cashed yet, and making sure that that amount plus what's extra in your account balances to the penny, right? (Aka, balancing or reconciling the account.)

 

"Checking against [our] account online" is what we non-balancing people do, too, except for us your notebook equals our heads. We're, for the most part, checking everything also. 

 

[Dory]

I have never balanced anything. Ever. I pay the bills when they come in and I do it online. I check the account when I do that just to see if we are on track. We have a budget written down and I follow it fairly well but even with that I don't keep perfect track of it every month. More like every three or four months.

[regentrude]

I pay those people in cash.  Most of them take cards too though.  I know they don't appreciate getting checks.  They will take them, but they do not like them because that means a trip to the bank.  The only time I HAVE to go to the bank is if I get a check.  It's pretty annoying. 

 

This, too , is pretty much a thing of the past with smart phone apps that allow you to deposit the check by taking a picture :-)

But I know, you don't do gadgets ;-)

[regentrude]

For me, writing a check is easier than going to the bank to get cash.  One of the disadvantages to living in the sticks.

 

I always get cash at the grocery store.

You grocery store does not give you cash when you pay with debit card?

 

[IsabelC]

Wow, I'm surprised that people still write checks! I haven't had a check book for years - it's all auto direct debit, BPay, Paypal or credit card. We have different accounts for different things and keep track of spending in each area by checking the balances online. We have a formula for dividing incoming payments among the various 'buckets' (percentage-based because our income is different each month) so it's pretty easy to make sure that all is as it should be.

[Kari C in SC]

I don't balance anything, exactly. All of our payments are electronic, so I very rarely have an outstanding check. Occasionally, I have to pay for a rental house repair and I use a check. I do, however, keep a basic notebook where I start with the cash we have available to spend that month. That amount is less all the standard payments of utilities, karate, cell, etc. it is strictly what we have on hand to spend that month. I then deduct whatever we have charged from it, so I know we are staying within the limits. I don't really have an exact budget for groceries, gas, dining out, etc. I just know overall what cash we have available. It is not very precise, but it works for us.

[Kari C in SC]

You should definitely make sure you know how to do everything he does, though, in case of an emergency.

 

We own a CPA firm and we have seen many instances where one spouse has always handled everything, but at some point, the other spouse is left alone and has no clue how to deal with finances. It is so scary for them.

 

It is very important to know where all the assets are, as well as how money is managed, even if you aren't going to be the one handling it on a regular basis right now.

This is my big project I have scheduled for when we finish school this year. We own 8 rental properties that I take care of all the bills for in addition to our primary household. My husband would have zero clue about any of it. So, I am hoping to make a very clear binder laying it all out. Yes, these are the things I leave for our homeschool break! That and cleaning out a closet or two.

[AmandaVT]

I'm a big budgeter - have an excel spreadsheet for my main budget that I figure everything out for the year on every January. Then, I fill in each month what bill gets paid on which date. I track groceries, spending money, insurance, savings accounts, etc. I do not balance my checkbook though. I use my online banking daily. All of our bills are paid through my online banking. I do have a checkbook, but use it a few times a year maybe for things like plumber visits or renewing the magazine subscription I buy my brother every year for his birthday. :-) I bought checks in 2012 and I'm still on my first book. We use our debit cards for most purchases - groceries, etc. I'm looking through my bank transactions daily, so if anything comes up, I can take care of it immediately. The only thing I've had in the past couple of years is that the piano studio double charged us. I was able to call and have it resolved in 24 hrs. 

[TrixieB]

I was talking with a friend of mine and told her I hate balancing my account even though I do it with quicken. She was surprised I did that.  That got me curious so I asked someone else and they said they don't balance their accounts either.  How many of you still balance your checking/debt account either the old fashioned way or with something like quicken?

 

Yes. Both. Quicken AND checkbook register.  I am OCD that way. :P

 

Most of my post-college jobs have involved balancing multiple accounts to the penny.  I guess it's just ingrained in me now.

[KathyBC]

Cheque writing has gone up substantially for me now that the kids are in public school. We use debit card for most things.  DH is pretty good about giving me his debit card slips, but the odd one falls through the cracks. It's good to be sure everything is accounted for.

[Melissa in Australia]

not sure exactly what you mean by balance your bank account.

 

 we would only write a check less than once a year. they are very rarely used in Australia any more.

 

Dh and I do not budget. We just live way below our means and make sure that 1/4 of our income goes into a special savings account. We take pride in doing as much as we can for ourselves, live debt free and get a kick out of seeing our bank balance grow- we also have an income way below the poverty line .

 

 from my observations people who make budgets spend more money. Example: they budget x$ for shopping - they have $10 left over so they splurge on some luxury item because it was money that isn't accounted for in the budget.

[melmichigan]

I wrote three checks last year, only because our accidental life policy has to be check or auto withdrawal, which I will not use.  Needless to say, I haven't bought checks in fifteen years.

 

All utilities are on a budget pay and every "bill" is on automatic bill pay.  Bills go out automatically every two weeks when a paycheck comes in, half of whatever the monthly payment is. Money automatically transfers to various savings accounts that night.  I know that day after payday how much I have to work with until next payday.  Everything else is done with debit or cash. DH mentions if he uses his debit card and I monitor the account on a regular basis. I pull cash once or twice a pay period for incidental purchases.

[SeaConquest]

Nope. I just check online every few days to see if everything looks in order. I don't write enough checks for it to matter.

[Tree Frog]

I balance my account - and I've caught the bank in several very large errors which they were happy to correct when they heard about them.  Do those of you who don't balance just assume that the bank is incapable of errors? 

I wonder about this, too. Banks make mistakes!

 

A couple of years ago, someone opened a new checking account at our credit union, got their checks, and began using them. Somehow when the checks were scanned, the computer scanned our checking account number from their checks and their check amounts were deducted from our account. I called the bank to notify them after the first $700 check cleared, but when the second $300 check cleared a couple of weeks later, I went to the credit union and raised a loud ruckus! We didn't have any more mistakes after that. (Turns out the printing on the bottom of the other person's check wasn't clear enough for the computer to read it clearly.)

[GailV]

What kind of errors?  Math errors?  I check every transaction to make sure it's correct, I just don't take the time to balance the checkbook.  If the numbers are going in right (which I verify), the bank's computerized calculator is going to do the math right although I can eyeball the balance to make sure it's right.  

 

Or are you talking about fraud?  As I said above, I've had a handful of fraudulent things happen, but my bank catches it before I even do (if that's what you were referring to).

 

We had a bank misread a check and add an extra digit.  In other words, a check for 3 digits (such as $100) became a check for 4 digits (such as $1000).  Which falls under your idea of checking every transaction to make sure it's correct, of course.  But once you've seen something like happen you start to wonder what else could turn up if you check.

 

We've also had deposits made into the wrong account, as PP mentioned.

[Debbi in Texas]

I balance my checkbook the old-fashioned way. I write down the debits in the checkbook register as well.