Do You Balance Your Checkbook?

[tedhowe]

I'm not even sure where my checks are, let alone a check register to balance... they are somewhere in the back of the bottom drawer of my desk.

We have about 15-20 paper checks a year, so there really isn't much to balance.

In truth, we do balance the account all the time.

We've been using quicken since 1994 and ALL of our financial history is in the quicken file (it's interesting that the Quicken file that has been migrated through all the versions of the program since 1994 is now itself larger than the hard disk drive was on the computer we had back then... and its still going strong).

I go online and get transactions for our checking, savings, HELOC, investment and credit card accounts 2 or 3 times a week and always reconcile each one.

If we EVER lost the quicken file, we'd be SOL... this is why I have 4 different backup procedures I run. A daily, a weekly, a yearly and an on-demand. I keep copies burned to CD in my desk at work, and we have an automatic backup that goes to an online service so even if the house burns down, we have all our financial data.

 

[Crazy Hakim]

Based on the other responses, I think I may have a different definition of "balancing your checkbook" than others. I consider that I have balanced my checkbook each time I compare what I think I have in my account with what my bank think's I have. Under this definition, I usually balance my checkbook by downloading information into Quicken about 4 times a month. snip Suzanne

Yes Suzanne, I am with you. I was surprised at the replies. I agree, that looking and reconciling is as good as balancing. When I watch the morning news shows and some of the hosts say that they never looks at their balance, or have no idea of how much money they have in their accounts, to me that is somebody who does not balance their checkbook. I too do not actually go line by line and add check marks in my check register. I use Microsoft Money and reconcile there. I do hand write the line entries in the register, just as piece of mind in case for some reason I cannot get onto my pc. But I was mostly looking for those who don't even check.

 

[coolbeans]

Wow, I feel so old fashioned. I balance my checkbook monthly with the statement in the mail. (ya know using the cute little worksheet on the back page) I work at my bank so I have a good idea of where my account stands daily anyway. I see the problems caused by people not balancing and not writing down purchases, checks and "thinking" you have money in the bank..there is no way I could afford not to balance my book.

 

[Cheerdisney]

Never I wouldn't even know where to begin. We pay everything on line and I check a couple of times a week.

 

[Mellie2162]

I use Quicken to keep track of my checkbook and reconcile it on a daily basis with my bank online. Is that not balancing? I can't imagine just guessing what might be in there.

 

[starwood]

I use Microsoft Money. It makes it much easier to balance every month.

 

[luvsgrumpy]

Wow, I feel so old fashioned. I balance my checkbook monthly with the statement in the mail. (ya know using the cute little worksheet on the back page) I work at my bank so I have a good idea of where my account stands daily anyway. I see the problems caused by people not balancing and not writing down purchases, checks and "thinking" you have money in the bank..there is no way I could afford not to balance my book.

I am right with you, although I didn't feel quite so old fashioned until I read everybody else's reasoning. I too used to work at the bank, I was amazed at the carelessness we would see. This was before online banking was such a huge deal though. I do use Quicken for another organization where I just took over as treasurer but I am only truely comfortable seeing everything on paper. That way if there is a problem, I can only blame myself!!

 

[BillSears]

I use those duplicate checks and I balance it everytime I write checks or make a withdrawl. I know to the penny how much money I have in my checkbook and if for some reason it doesn't match the bank statement I can always figure out the mistake.

E.T.A

I'm really surprised that people don't actually balance their checkbook. I mean a real balance with every transaction accounted for, knowing what your outstanding checks are, all of your deposits and tallying it up with a calculator so you know your real balance.

 

[antmaril]

Not once in 29 years!

 

[nephthys43]

Based on the other responses, I think I may have a different definition of "balancing your checkbook" than others. I consider that I have balanced my checkbook each time I compare what I think I have in my account with what my bank think's I have. Under this defintiion, I usually balance my checkbook by downloading information into Quicken about 4 times a month.

I can't imagine ever having enough money that I would have the luxury of not having to regularly balance my checkbook. Even if all our payments could be made on a credit card (just think of the miles you could earn!), I would still need to keep track of the various deposits made into our accounts.

I also balance all of our investment accounts regularly to track dividends and interest.

-- Suzanne

i check my account online daily and mark off what has gone through, so technically, i do balance everyday.

i could never not have a paper trail. i went nuts in disney without one. i ended up carrying a scrap of paper around to keep track of any debits.

 

[ForTheLoveofDisney]

We balance our checkbook everytime we buy something so if we go shopping everyday we update the checkbook that evening.

We make sure our checkbook is reconciled w/ the bank once a month when our paper statement comes. But we are always tracking our money online too.

 

[snoodledoo]

I reconcile my Quicken records vs. my bank and cc history weekly. When I make a purchase on my cc, I deduct it from my checking account balance so that I always have enough to pay off my cc in full each month. We write few checks, so we don't actually have a "check register" - it's all quicken.

 

[mom23boys]

I have not balanced a check book in years. I look online everyday for my balance and I do all my banking on line. I very rarly write checks.

 

[summerrluvv]

Nope. I check my account online daily and keep a mental note of any outstanding charges or checks.

 

[1of6]

I sit with my pen and statement oncve a month and make my little checkmarks in my checkbook.

 

[MickeyRPI]

I posted never, but not because I'm lazy. Just because I never use checks. The Debit/Credit cards work for just about everything and cash works for the rest. Then it's easy enough to check the statement online.

 

[minnie1928]

I answered 1x/mth but it's usually more frequent than that. I compare bank to Quicken...DH has a nasty habit of not giving me gas receipts.

 

[T. Lynn]

I also use Quicken and make sure it is updated daily. Then I reconcile it monthly when the bank statements arrive.

With 3 business accounts, Quicken comes in handy and can't live without it.

 

[jeankeri]

I've begun every checking account I've ever had vowing that I would keep the account balanced with no errors or missing $. It's never lasted more that 4 months. Darned if I can find the mistake that keeps the account out of balance. On the plus side, I know that my current checking account is currently off by $2.07 in my favor. I check my account every month to see how much my account is off, but it has not been balanced since I opened it... .

 

[Mom21]

Ok I guess I am going to be the first to say it. I balance my checkbook DAILY. Yes daily. Every morning I go in and give a checkmark beside each thing that has cleared. Then I have to add in all the debits that are there that hubby didn't tell me about.

Honestly takes me less than 1 minute per day. Much less time than trying to balance with the statement once a month. This way if I am off it is the matter of checking only a few transactions to see the problem. Also any fraud would be detected that day. For that reason, I also log on and check my credit card balance daily. I caught a $1000 pending transaction in Brazil the day it happened. it was quickly rectified. Much easier for me each day.

Just one of my morning routines just like washing my face or brushing my teeth. Quick and painless.