Checkbook - Rounding up and Still Balancing?

[gottalovethem]

Okay, you guys turned me on to this so now I'm ready to know more.

I have started rounding up in my checkbook, but now I'm having a really hard time keeping track of what the balance is. I don't have any credit cards, so I use my debit card & checks, and of course cash.

So money is consistantly going in and out of the account.

How do I keep it balanced, and how often do you transfer the "savings" to another account and how do you determine what that amount is???

Thanks, in advance, for your help!

 

[vegasnative]

After I check everything off that has "cleared" from the statement, I take the balance in my book minus the balance that shows on the statement (remember to add/subtract the ones that have not cleared yet) and the difference is the "extra" that you have saved. I write that amount on my statement and circle it, then when it gets to about $500 I either spend it or transfer it. I just did mine and I had about $700 extra!! I usually only see what the "actual" balance is once a month when I balance the check book, I really do not care what the "actual" balance is because I know it is always more than what my check book says....make sense?

 

[bjscheel]

Sorry, that would drive me nuts to not keep the checkbook to the penny. Now for a while I had $300 extra in there that was not written down, that was my cushion. But if you made a math error (which happens) how would you ever know that you made it?

I think a better way to "save" money would be to have a small amount transferred to savings on a regular basis.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

I agree with bjscheel...that would make me nuts!! Why not transfer a little bit of money every pay day to an ING account or another savings account?

 

[vegasnative]

Sorry, that would drive me nuts to not keep the checkbook to the penny.

That is funny because it drives me nuts to mark down every penny. I have always rounded up, ever since I got my first checking account at 18, I think because my dad has always done it that way and that is how he showed me to do it. I like it because of the cusion factor and yes you can make mistakes (but you have that cusion, so it is not as bad if it happens) , but you can also make mistakes in wiriting down the wrong amount even if you do it down to the penny....that is why you are supposed to balance your check book every month, to make sure there are no mistakes and so you know that your records are right.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Being a former asst bank manager, that would drive me CRAZY also. Our checkbook is always to the penny. It's never been out of balance in 22 yrs. Sick, I know.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Sorry, that would drive me nuts to not keep the checkbook to the penny.

I keep a buffer in the checking account and the rest is in our other money market checking account.

 

[LizAgna]

I tried this myself and being an accountant I just couldn't do it!!! So here is how I handled it. At the end of each month I would add up the exact amount of what we spent that month...then I would add again rounding up to the nearest dollar...then I would subtract the exact amount from the rounded amount and write a check for the difference to our vacation savings account. Then I would draw a line in the checkbook register so I would know where to start the next time I wanted to do it. It was more work but I always balanced to the penny!!!

 

[bearzabout]

I use Quicken to keep track of my finances. I like to let it do addition and subtraction for me. It takes minutes a day to log transactions and just minutes to reconcile it each month.

I now list all savings, checking and investment accounts on it. It is really fun to watch your net worth climb and is easy to track savings over the years. It can generate reports showing where your money was spent and makes budgeting easier.