Do you still balance your checkbook monthly?

[38Chevy454]

Use checkbook register to record all deposits, checks or electronic withdrawals. Don't use Quicken. I check my register with online bank and verify to the penny.

 

[jazz4cash]

No real need for me to balance a checkbook. I stopped over a decade ago. I look at each transaction on a statement and that's about it. A decade before I stopped balancing my checkbook I started using carbon duplicate checks so no need to fill in a register after writing the check. I am surprised how many folks are still using a separate check register. I only write a handful of checks per year.

 

[disneysteve]

No real need for me to balance a checkbook. I stopped over a decade ago. I look at each transaction on a statement and that's about it. A decade before I stopped balancing my checkbook I started using carbon duplicate checks so no need to fill in a register after writing the check. I am surprised how many folks are still using a separate check register. I only write a handful of checks per year.

As I said earlier, a register isn't only for checks. It's for recording all transactions on the account. So far in 2026 I have written 8 checks but we have 25-35 transactions per month.

 

[spud99]

I just make sure all credit cards and banks notify me when a transaction is made. That takes care of most of my needs. Every month or two I download a transaction report from Fidelity full view and drop them into a spreadsheet that I use to get a report of our spending.

 

[disneysteve]

I just make sure all credit cards and banks notify me when a transaction is made.

I totally get the security of that. I have that set for my mom’s credit card. But for us, that would get out of hand quickly. I just looked and we had 70 transactions on our Chase Visa alone last month and about 30 in our checking account. Add in our other Visa, Amex, and 2 Discover cards and we’d be getting notifications all day long.

 

[PaulR888]

Old saying, “take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves “.

Lately when I am out and about and buying something whether a yogurt cup or popcorn in a movie theater, I tell them to round up. I don't want change in my pocket that comes home to a tin box that I have to eventually deal with. I am trying to streamline my life as my goal is to have less things to do.

 

[CincyDave]

I don't think I've ever balanced a checking account. Just use the checkbook registar to record the few checks we write. Get text notices when credit card is used and an email when withdrawals are made from the checking account. Kuddos to those of you that balance everythign to the penny, but to me personally it seems like a lot of time for little, if any, return.

 

[disneysteve]

Lately when I am out and about and buying something whether a yogurt cup or popcorn in a movie theater, I tell them to round up. I don't want change in my pocket

We use credit cards for everything so no change to deal with.

 

[mtpisgah]

I write all my checks in my register, about 15 per year. I do not really balance it because I review my checking account daily and know which checks I have written without referring to the register.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have never thought of a checkbook register simply for only checks I write. For me, it has always been a checking account register. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, most of my checking account's activity came from checks I wrote, with some deposits, some ATM cash withdrawals, and, because I had a linked savings account, there were some transfers between the two accounts.

But starting in the late 1980s, more electronic transactions appeared. I had direct deposit on my paychecks and the first of several ACH payments, my mortgage. Gradually, more and more of my monthly bills became done via ACH. But this never changed the nature of my checking account register. The number of transactions was pretty much the same.

Balancing my register was always pretty easy. Most months I could find the statement's ending balance in my checkbook, even if I had some transactions after the statement date in it. I would just draw a line after the last one in the statement after checking all the ones in the register which appeared in the statement.

Most of the time, any differences between my register and the statement were mine. But once in a while, the difference was due to the bank or to something else. Those rare events are why I go to the trouble of balancing the 2 items.

Other accounts I have had over the years which included checks I didn't need a register because checks were so rare, as were transactions in general I could keep track of elsewhere, such as a mutual fund which has checks. One of those linked savings accounts I once had included checks. But beyond the few starter checks I got from the bank, I never used them up. I had a more primitive account log booklet I used to keep track of monthly interest earned and the other rare transactions I did. Those booklets lasted me for more than 5 years.

 

[disneysteve]

I have never thought of a checkbook register simply for only checks I write. For me, it has always been a checking account register.

Exactly. I’m really surprised by how many people have said they don’t need a register because they don’t write checks. That’s not the point of a register.

 

[Dash man]

I review all bank transactions daily to verify they’re legit. Statements are stored online if I need to research anything. I don’t see the need to duplicate the bank’s computers.

 

[FD1000]

I have never balanced my checkbook or used any software for expenses, trades or tracked anything.
My bank, broker, and credit cards companies have it.

 

[TheQuestionGuy]

Hmmm, come to think about it, I do take it for granted and do a cursory check.
My wife handles the bills but at the end of the month she provides balances in all accounts and I update the spreadsheet. If things look off, at that point further investigating is done.
Her paycheck (before retiring) did vary so she checked her own account as she wanted to be sure her OT was there. My paycheck is the same all the time so easy to see if something is off.

 

[Midpack]

Not surprisingly we’re all over the place, though DW is not at the extreme end of the spectrum. Not suggesting there’s a right answer, just thought there might be fewer who still use check registers and balance monthly. I doubt we will ever stop comparing spending to budget monthly as some do - it would be easier.

 

[RetMD21]

You're lucky. We have many bills that can't be paid by credit card. As I said earlier, our monthly bank statement generally has 25-35 transactions.

I'm surprised that you can enter and reconcile them all in 10 minutes a month! It always took me much longer

 

[disneysteve]

I'm surprised that you can enter and reconcile them all in 10 minutes a month! It always took me much longer

It doesn’t take long to look at the statement, match up the transactions, and do the math to account for outstanding transactions. As long as it balances, which it almost always does, it’s a very quick process. If it doesn’t balance, since there are only 25 or so transactions to check, it’s not usually hard to find the error.

 

[RetMD21]

That makes sense. Entering the checks as written and e-payments through the month was the bigger time sink for me

 

[disneysteve]

That makes sense. Entering the checks as written and e-payments through the month was the bigger time sink for me

Oh I don’t find that time consuming. All of that is done at my desk - paying bills, reviewing statements, writing checks. My register is right there so it’s easy to enter transactions as I do them. Then there’s a few auto payments and I just know when those occur and write them in on or around those dates. I have a post it note in the back of the register with those though never really need to look at it.

 

[Koolau]

What you say is absolutely true.
So the question arises: how crucial is it to know your precise balance, including transactions that have not yet settled?

For me, knowing to within a few hundred $$ is completely adequate while my transactions make their way through the system. This is for a target checking account balance on the order of $10,000...

Indeed, we begin to "worry" when the checking account balance drops to $10,000.

 

[Koolau]

I’m to the penny every time. Must be that good living!

DW's problem? She was a (wait for it) Math Major in college!

 

[foxcreek9]

Lately when I am out and about and buying something whether a yogurt cup or popcorn in a movie theater, I tell them to round up. I don't want change in my pocket that comes home to a tin box that I have to eventually deal with. I am trying to streamline my life as my goal is to have less things to do.

25 years ago our HS son started bringing home pockets of change, he said a lot of kids don't like to carry around change so he offered to take their change. By the end of the school year he had over $800 in his bucket. Always a follower of "trust but verify" we asked someone we knew at the school and she confirmed the story. I think the next year they convert to a debit card like system, so no more change.

 

[Montecfo]

DW keeps the check books and reconciles them. She hasn't had an "actual" agreement with the bank/CU for a long time. As long as she's within a thousand dollars, we don't worry.

well that's certainly a high level of precision!

 

[wmc1000]

No, probably only write 5-7 checks a year other than gift checks to kids and grandkids.

 

[Montecfo]

Years ago I used to reconcile to the penny, sometimes took me a bit to do it!
Once, the bank and I were off several dollars. I could not find it anywhere, as we had matched the month before. I finally went into the bank (this was probably 20 some years ago), one of the mangers even sat down with me and went over everything too. She could not figure it out either!
Finally just went with what the bank had (it was more than what I had). Ever since then, "close enough is good enough".

But it has to work. It is math.