Do you balance your checkbook?

[disneysteve]

Following on the check register thread (Another Boomer Thing that (Apparently) has Died Off), how many of you still balance your checking account monthly? For those who don't, what steps do you take to ensure that all transaction have been properly recorded, no incorrect entries were made due to bank error, and how do you keep track of your current balance including outstanding transactions?

Needless to say, I still take my monthly statement and use it to balance the account. It only takes about 10 minutes once a month so it's certainly not a big ordeal and I've caught errors numerous times.

 

[TheWizard]

I balanced my check book a hundred years ago, yes.
But I haven't done it recently...

 

[RetiredHappy]

Nothing to balance. I look at my credit card charges and bank account information at least once every 2 days. I know every charge against the credit cards and bank account.

 

[sengsational]

I have an old, and I mean old, personal finance program (runs in Windows 3 virtual machine). Investment and spending accounts are all in there, and I reconcile there, religiously. Over the years, I found hundreds of errors (that I made, but were perfectly legit), and maybe 5 credit card goofs that might have saved me a hundred bucks. Dividing our the hourly rate comes to about $0.0001 per hour. It's the dumbest thing I do.

 

[5Miler]

Me - Absolutely every month on two accounts.

DGF - Never

 

[tominboise]

Yes, I keep my check register in Excel. I have records back to 2007. I reconcile several times a month. My wife, who spends very little any more, does not keep a check register. I do keep an eye on her account when I do mine.

 

[latexman]

Following on the check register thread (Another Boomer Thing that (Apparently) has Died Off), how many of you still balance your checking account monthly?

I balance my checking account every Saturday morning, so weekly. If I do it weekly, I’m less prone to forget transactions, so I’m much more efficient.

Onced balanced and after the snail mail runs, I pay bills due within the next two weeks.

I’ve never had insufficient funds, or missed a bill payment.

It works for me!

 

[aaronc879]

I still have a check book and balance it with every transaction that involves my checking account. I don't spend much money so we are talking about maybe 2-5 transactions per month. I have no money regularly going into my checking so I need to make sure I have enough in there.

 

[audreyh1]

All of my financial accounts are in Quicken. I enter any expected bills and the date into Quicken. I also use billpay from a couple of accounts online and Quicken has the same info. I almost never write a physical check. For many of my recurring bills I have them set up as autopay in billpay, and some like credit cards that change I get ebills and can autopay the varying amounts. I use Quicken to track this too.

I am able to download most of my financial account transactions into Quicken. So for most accounts when I get the monthly statement, I reconcile it in Quicken. Update any new bill info, etc. My calendar app has reminders of when statements are expected each month.

So basically Quicken is my register, and everything is highly automated. I like that I can look ahead with Quicken and see what bills are coming due in the next 30 days, for example, and which account is paying them. I can see what is expected to be paid over the whole year too: quarterly estimated taxes, biannual and annual expenses like insurance and property taxes.

I’ve been doing things this way for decades.

 

[c998877]

Following on the check register thread (Another Boomer Thing that (Apparently) has Died Off), how many of you still balance your checking account monthly? For those who don't, what steps do you take to ensure that all transaction have been properly recorded, no incorrect entries were made due to bank error, and how do you keep track of your current balance including outstanding transactions?

Needless to say, I still take my monthly statement and use it to balance the account. It only takes about 10 minutes once a month so it's certainly not a big ordeal and I've caught errors numerous times.

Yes, my checking and our joint checking.

 

[CaptTom]

It's a habit I can't shake. Totally pointless I'm sure. But it keeps me very aware of my financial position and what I'm spending. I did move from paper to doing it electronically, but that was in the early '90s so it's not like I keep up with the times.

 

[marko]

Daily. At 5:30 am.

It's on Excel and as we track all our expenses that way, I can see what has been paid and what's coming. I write about 6 checks per year, but I register all electronic payments and income.

Ahead of time, I register our regular monthly charges, an average credit card payment and our monthly income. I also have room for unanticipated or lumpy expenses.

Then, like Quicken, I extend it out into December which gives me a year-end balance. The year-end balance, coupled to additional transfers/(income) gives me a running total on my annual spending.

Coupled to my regular income, it tells me early on what I may need for eventual additional withdrawals.

 

[Focus]

I'm curious: What errors (by the bank or credit card company) have folks found?

 

[pjm-7]

Yes, every month. I still keep the paper check register and just started a new one for the new year. I don't write may checks, maybe 8-10 but other debits and deposits go through the account. Old habits die hard but I'll keep this one.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm curious: What errors (by the bank or credit card company) have folks found?

Very rare. It’s been years now.

 

[razztazz]

I have never balanced a checkbook/checking account. I just made sure I never wrote too many checks. It's like having a bottomless peanut bag full of money

 

[rk911]

All of my financial accounts are in Quicken. I enter any expected bills and the date into Quicken. I also use billpay from a couple of accounts online and Quicken has the same info. I almost never write a physical check. For many of my recurring bills I have them set up as autopay in billpay, and some like credit cards that change I get ebills and can autopay the varying amounts. I use Quicken to track this too.

I am able to download most of my financial account transactions into Quicken. So for most accounts when I get the monthly statement, I reconcile it in Quicken. Update any new bill info, etc. My calendar app has reminders of when statements are expected each month.

So basically Quicken is my register, and everything is highly automated. I like that I can look ahead with Quicken and see what bills are coming due in the next 30 days, for example, and which account is paying them. I can see what is expected to be paid over the whole year too: quarterly estimated taxes, biannual and annual expenses like insurance and property taxes.

I’ve been doing things this way for decades.

Same here. All of our accounts...5 retail banking (2 checking, 2 traditional savings and 1 high-yield savings) and 10 brokerage accounts are in Quicken. I balance and reconcile each against the paper statememts each month. Is if necessary? Probably not but it's good mental exercise.

 

[audreyh1]

Same here. All of our accounts...5 retail banking (2 checking, 2 traditional savings and 1 high-yield savings) and 10 brokerage accounts are in Quicken. I balance and reconcile each against the paper statememts each month. Is if necessary? Probably not but it's good mental exercise.

I religiously reconcile each account each month so I know in detail what going on. This is a big part of tracking our spending. It also helps me anticipate cash flow needs. I still reconcile paper receipts from credit card charges, although more and more I’m receiving receipts by text or email.

 

[rk911]

I religiously reconcile each account each month so I know in detail what going on. This is a big part of tracking our spending. It also helps me anticipate cash flow needs. I still reconcile paper receipts from credit card charges, although more and more I’m receiving receipts by text or email.

I left that out of my original response. I, too, reconcile each of our three credit cards for much the same reasons. We also get instant text and email alerts for any transaction greater than $0.01 in our bank accounts and credit cards.

 

[Gumby]

Yes, I do. I also check my credit card charges online about once a week. Then I do a quick estimate of expected dollars out of and into the checking account for the remainder of the month to avoid any cash flow problems.

 

[GenXguy]

I hardly write checks anymore, but I stopped balancing probably 15 years ago or longer. I did review the checking account statements with all the checks I wrote each month.

About 25 years ago, I did have a $10 charge to my checking account that showed on a statement. I talked to the bank, and they looked into it and removed it. I don't remember the details.

 

[bbbamI]

Yes, I balance my checkbook. Been doing it since 1977....I guess it's a hard habit to break.

 

[audreyh1]

I left that out of my original response. I, too, reconcile each of our three credit cards for much the same reasons. We also get instant text and email alerts for any transaction greater than $0.01 in our bank accounts and credit cards.

Yep, I get the texts for charges occasionally asked to verify. That’s how we usually detect fraud.

I think the last time fraud happened and I called in to their fraud department, they had already blocked the transaction. They said the expiration date and other info was incorrect so they didn’t need to replace my card.

 

[mystang52]

I sort-of balance my checkbook. With online payments for nearly everything, it's just a matter of going into my online bank account to see which payments clear......which is usually a day or 2 later. So I do track any payments that haven't cleared, which generally means the occasional paper check.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I don’t do the traditional monthly statement reconciliation. I never look at monthly statements. But, in a sense, I do a daily online reconciliation. I track the transactions in Quicken and download them every morning unless I’m traveling. Then every morning, I also sign into my banks online website and compare everything. Any out of place transactions show up and I deal with them. So, I guess I do daily reconciliation. But not from paper.