slo’s MONDAY 1/13 poll - Balancing Your Checkbook 💲📝

[CynBeth]

I balance the checkbook whenever I remember which is usually once or twice a month.

 

[lovin'fl]

Very seldom write a check. But it's my ATM card account and we do use that for a lot of stuff (groceries and gas and other) as well as for auto paying bills. But I don't balance the check book. Used to many years ago when we mailed bill payments. I do keep a tally of sorts to make sure all bills have been paid and we don't over draft. Check that tally off about once every 4-6 weeks.

(I hate typing on this site now as it keeps bumping out. So annoying)

 

[tvguy]

The bank a relative uses no longer has registers. Due to electronic banking they phased them out. The individual is over 90 years old and does not have a cell phone or computer. So ordered them some registers online at Amazon.

We are at an interesting time for sure. Digital is the norm but there are holdouts. A friend is business manager for an elderly couple who absolutely won't do anything electronically. ALL bills are paid by cash or check. My friend had a challenge when the State and Federal Government started requiring all taxes withheld to be electronically deposited. Couple said that is NEVER happening. My friend managed to find a way around that, the taxes are paid by check but received electronically. But the bigger issue is they own apartments, and a big chunk of their tenants pay their rent in CASH. They have jobs that pay in cash. As the politically correct folks would say, they are "unbanked", they have no bank accounts or credit cards of any kind.

 

[tvguy]

(I hate typing on this site now as it keeps bumping out. So annoying)

You too? I thought it was just me! Annoying as all get up.

 

[wabbott]

You too? I thought it was just me! Annoying as all get up.

Me three.

 

[wabbott]

Just about the only checks we write are for our quarterly income tax payments (state/federal) and the lady who fixes mrs. wabbott's hair every month. She also cuts my hair every couple or three months, whether I need it or not. Other than that, we have everything drafted or set up with credit card payments. Otherwise, we would be unable to travel as much as we do. We carry a laptop along on trips to keep up with our banking remotely.

Ever since we retired from working for wages, we have not had any taxes withheld. None, nada, zip, zero. I've done this for two reasons.

I want to know just how much in taxes I pay, and I want to manually write the check so as to "feel" how much I pay. The second reason is to have a paper trail for proof of payment.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

No need for balancing the checkbook (which I used to do monthly). Online access to my account through a computer app always has things up to date and accurate. I guess I balance the account every time I hit 'refresh'! Love it.

 

[Lumpy1106]

When I met DW I kept my checkbook balanced to the penny at all times. When we started sharing expenses that became impossible - DW always just "kept a cushion". That worked, but I just could not keep up with both of our spending, so could not keep the checkbook balanced the way I wanted to.

The solution; let her do it. She spends WWAAYY more than I do, so everything is in one account and she keeps track. After all, if we get in financial trouble (and we don't), there is nothing I can do to fix it since I am not spending money. Works for us - we've been married 28 years.

 

[slo]

You too? I thought it was just me! Annoying as all get up.

Same here and with another DIS friend of mine - drives me crazy!

 

[lovesmurfs]

I miss Microsoft Money -- I tried Quicken and YNAB and neither were as nice as that software.

Feeling old and grumpy.

 

[bobbiwoz]

DH balances our checkbook very religiously! I think he looks every day to see what checks have cleared.

I had been Treasurer of a club years ago, and he took to balancing our checkbook and I did the club’s.

 

[The Mayor]

With online banking I don't ever balance our checkbook. The balance is always available to check on my phone so I don't see the need to balance it.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I only write checks for my mortgage (because the company we have won't let me do auto/online pay unless I open a bank account with them but I bank elsewhere.) But I have a checkbook and a ledger and I like to write in every payment and deposit. It's unnecessary since it's all online anyway. But I still like doing it anyway.

Not sure if that counts as "balancing a checkbook" because I honestly never really understood the terminology. I've had a checkbook since I was 18 years old and I've always just written it all down as I go.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I have a restricted checking account because I have a representative payee for my SSI checks. My aunt can write checks from the account for me, but we never had the need. I don't think I've seen anyone writing a check in the wild for years.

 

[Skywalker3]

I don't think I"ve balanced a checkbook in over 20 years. I do login every day to my bank account, online, and see what's pending, if it matches the bills, what's been deducted, current balances, etc. We don't use debit cards for anything, only credit cards that are paid off each month. I do review the credit card statements a couple times a month, see if anything is out of the ordinary. The only checks we wrtie are for the lawn service

 

[PollyannaMom]

I used to balance it faithfully every month when paper statements were mailed out. Now I do it closer to quarterly, whenever I remember to ask DH to print a statement.

 

[Turn the Page]

I usually balance the checkbook every week or two. DH gets paid weekly and I still write a fair number of cheques so......I do it frequently. I get very antsy if I don't know exactly what is in there.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I was chatting with my DIS friend this morning and we were talking about mistakes we caught while balancing our checkbooks (this is what inspired this poll) I see and talk to many people every day and have been for 36 years, and I’ve talked about balancing a checkbook with them and many don’t do it - they find out about mistakes they made after they run out of money - that kinda freaks me out and that system is not for me, but hey different strokes for different folks. So let’s have some financial talk this morning……..

Do you balance your checkbook?
If yes……how often?
If no…….do you just hope for the best or does someone else do it?
(multiple choice)



For Me…….I balance our checkbook twice a month - at the beginning of the month and the middle of the month. Obviously there are months were this may not happen, and I may skip the middle of the month, which is ok. My DH is lucky that I’m so proactive about this so he doesn’t have to worry about it

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Haven’t had a cheque book in decades.

But I do make note of automatic withdrawals that are coming out and check my banking app every couple days.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

@slo I honestly don't mean this in a bad way but what are you balancing? I just check that my debits for the day cleared and there aren't any strange charges. Deposits for hotels for example are on credit cards so they don't mess with my checking account. And the only check I write is for rent so obviously I know when that clears vs. when I drop it off across the street and how much needs to be in the account to cover it. I get it if you want to keep track of where you're spending and enter it into some kind of tracking system, but just logging it into a paper register makes no sense to me.

 

[Turn the Page]

My first question is, do people even still write their spending down in a check book register anymore?
I haven't balanced my check book since online banking started. I do, however, compared the balance in my check book register with the online balance every day.
I used to balance my checkbook monthly, even when I started using Microsoft Money.
I have two bills that are auto paid from my checking account, because it was the only option. I absolutely hate auto pay. I want to pay my bills, online when I deem it time to be paid not when the creditor wants it.

This. I have two automatic payments a month. The first is the Verizon bill, because it gave us a discount, the second is our additional Edward Jones deposit for our savings account, my IRA, and the kids's college fund. I loathe automatic payments. DH gets paid weekly which I dislike. I prefer every two weeks because the weekly is ALMOST enough for the mortgage but not quite so I have to make sure to hold enough back, etc. It's irritating. I want to pay bills when I want them paid.