Do you still maintain a checkbook register?

[Theseus]

I use the same process in Quicken except that I manually enter all transactions and manually reconcile the monthly bank statements including credit cards.

I could download the CC and bank statements but I actually enjoy the manual process.

I rely on the cash flow report as well as other available reports in Quicken for spending analysis.

+1

The Quicken calendar feature has been my virtual FA for many years, makes tracking and planning recurring bills and/or one time major expenses quite visible. It is my "goto" screen for near-term financial planning. I also use an elaborate spreadsheet that reads the text output from a 5+ year Quicken income/expense report, that data then tracks my budget plan. I know Quicken can also do budgeting, but I like knowing where all the numbers came from and what they do under the hood. That same spreadsheet also applies that same data plus investment accounts, life insurance cash value, SS estimates, pensions, etc. to my long-term planning.

Paper based checking register was abandoned long ago, although I've got some going back a few decades filed away yet. Rarely write paper checks anymore, maybe half a dozen or so a year. Credit Union bill payer being used for most recurring bills, all but a handful of vendors/providers accept ETF payments. The ones that only accept paper are scheduled for delivery with a two-day cushion, ETF's are scheduled for due date payment, or last possible business day if due date is on a weekend/holiday (that tightwad practice has probably netted me $0.01 more interest this year).

 

[user5027]

Banks are not infallible.

I recall looking at my online banking manager and noticing the amount differed from my excel register.

A check amount had been transposed buy the bank. I looked at the check facsimile and I had clearly written the amount. I suspect the payee, a local garage that banks at the same branch, had transposed the amount on their deposit slip.

I called the branch and the amount was immediately corrected.

The amount was not huge but I wonder how large it would need to be for me to notice without using the excel check register.

"Trust but verify." - Ronald Reagan

 

[RunningBum]

There's a trick to spotting transposing errors. If the difference is divisible by 9, it's likely that someone transposed numbers. 23 instead of 32 is a difference of 9. 74 instead of 47 is a difference of 27. Usually I found that I was the one who made the error.

Back when I did keep a register and balanced it monthly, I often found errors, usually mine. I used to track them down diligently. In the last couple of years though, if I was within a dollar or so, I'd just make a corrective entry called "To balance" and add or subtract the amount. It wasn't worth my time to track down a subtraction error or mis-writing a number (me or whoever cashed my check). It was quite a step, because I'm usually very thorough, especially with numbers.

I still balance it in my spreadsheet, every week or so when I enter my electronic transactions and check the balance. Between writing fewer checks and letting the spreadsheet do the math, I rarely find errors, and can track them down more quickly. It's usually mis-typing a number. So far I haven't had to resort to a ghost transaction to bring it into balance.

 

[Dash man]

I write two checks a month and everything else is paid with online bill pay or credit card. On the first of each month I transfer an amount into my checking account to bring it up to my estimated monthly spending amount plus a 25% cushion. I check all transactions daily letting my thumb do the logging in on my phone. I pay my credit cards at the same time, using my bank's bill pay. The only mistake I've ever found was from my horrible printing due to arthritis and was misread by the bank, which is why I try not to write checks anymore.


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[NW-Bound]

I have a spreadsheet for a checkbook register. It's in the cloud so accessible anywhere I have internet (from phone or computer). I try to keep just a few hundred bucks in the account to cover debit card transactions, since the account only pays 0.25%...

My wife uses a similar spreadsheet. She's in charge of making all monthly payments. I am in charge of replenishing the checking account, and I do that by monitoring the balance via Quicken.

 

[jazz4cash]

Now here's a feature I'm surprised no modern online account offers (at least none that I'm aware of): If I write that $1000 check, I should be able to enter the check# and amount online, and have that automatically debited from my 'available funds'. When it clears, the system should recognize that it was already entered (same check number) and not 'double-debit' it. Wouldn't that be convenient? You could do the same for any auto-payment, say 30 days out, with some similar reference # system? Especially convenient if you are set up to get an email/text when 'available funds' drop below $X.

-ERD50

Yes! I agree and have actually put this suggestion in the feedback area on my banks website (a few times, actually). I would be satisfied it they just had a memo or sandbox area that I could post the check # and amount.

Having Mint.com or some outside service provide this functionality is not the same IMO.

I use carbon copies to record paper checks which only happens every other month or so. I track the balance online.

 

[youbet]

When 90+% of your banking is electronic, and you handwrite maybe one check every two months, the checkbook register is useless. I'd have to enter every electronic transaction by hand in the checkbook register to track the balance that way - duplicating what is already in Quicken and can be viewed online from my bank.

Most of our banking transactions are recurring monthly bills which Quicken anticipates for me by automatically scheduling the transactions. At most I have to modify the monthly amount for some bills.

I'm glad your system works for you in your lifestyle. For us, our method is working just fine.

We're uncomfortable sharing a checkbook and not making an entry in the register whenever we write a check. It's just a simple, quick and easy courtesy to each other.

Your method is obviously a huge success for you, so..... carry on!

 

[winger]

A Quicken trick. If you already do this, sorry.

We have accounts within our main joint checking account. They are tracked under "Savings Goals".
Right now, we have 3. My personal checking, DD payback, and prescriptions. Wife has a separate, free checking account that I don't track.

Every month, on the calendar, Quicken moves set amounts from the joint account into these automatically. My allowance is xx, and long term prescriptions average xx per month. When DD makes her sporadic car payment, I move that amount manually into DD payback. This is my checking cushion. If I buy something personal, I use a CC, but when the debit shows up, I transfer the money to joint from my personal. Prescriptions work the same way.

At the end of the year, I move the prescription overage into joint and start again. I leave DD payback alone, but when she needs some money, I loan her her own money.

When I helped her get a car several years ago, I called it a loan but knew it was probably mostly a gift.

 

[aja8888]

Because of me being a Military Veteran, Chase gives us a Premier Checking account free.

We write 8 checks a year to our Medigap Policy provider (they have no means of electronic payments). Then the housekeeper gets a check every third week (private individual) and church gets a donation via check about every other week also.

So, in essence, we write about 60 checks per year. We don't use the register to reconcile, only record checks and I also record them in Quicken. I reconcile the monthly electronic statement from Chase with Quicken.

Oh, the county taxing authority gets annual payment checks (2) as their electronic system charges for CC payment.

Other than the above, it's all CC's or debit card.

 

[Trawler]

What great timing on this topic as last night I was reconciling my account online with my paper check register and entering expenses in my excel expense worksheet I have kept up for over ten years and was asking myself I wonder who still does this paper register thing. Made me laugh when I saw this thread today. Thanks

 

[brett]

We use on line banking. We do not use quicken.

Yes, I maintain a cheque book out of habit. We balance it to our on line account. We seldom write a cheque-probably one this year.

 

[Car-Guy]

I haven't used (or reconciled) a check register in about 10 years. Before that, it seems every month I would find my "register totals" for the month and the banks totals would differ most of the time. I'd spend anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes each month to find who was wrong. Never found a banking error. About the same time I realized that I wasn't tracking my credit card transactions and was just checking (scanning) them when the bill came in at the end of the month. (I have found a few ( 2 or 3) fraudulent transactions over the years.)

These days I just monitor my checking and credit cards on line (about once a month)

 

[jim584672]

Only write 4 checks a year and those get written in the check book. Everything else is paid online or auto pay.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

I live in Switzerland, where checks are not used at all. It's all done by bank transfer from your account into the other party's. We do this online or in person at the post office using a payment card (which comes with a bill or charitable request) on which is printed the other party's bank acct info. We call these one's bank coordinates. As in, "give me your bank coordinates and I will transfer the funds to your account tomorrow." Very simple process.

-BB

 

[jags86]

If you think keeping a checkbook register is old fashioned I saw a woman at Valley National Bank the other day take money out of her passbook savings account. I was shocked that A) these still existed and B) that they actually had a passbook printer updater thingy. I haven't had one of these since my first savings account when I was about 8 or 9.

 

[Avocadorunner]

The nice thing about Quicken is that you can scan your receipts into the register, making it very easy to retrieve them if needed. I've charged everything for over ten years now, which results in the need to write only a couple of checks per month. The perk: it has also given me lifetime platinum airline frequent flier status and a lot of miles.

 

[ERD50]

Now here's a feature I'm surprised no modern online account offers (at least none that I'm aware of): If I write that $1000 check, I should be able to enter the check# and amount online, and have that automatically debited from my 'available funds'. When it clears, the system should recognize that it was already entered (same check number) and not 'double-debit' it. Wouldn't that be convenient?

Yes! I agree and have actually put this suggestion in the feedback area on my banks website (a few times, actually). I would be satisfied it they just had a memo or sandbox area that I could post the check # and amount.

Having Mint.com or some outside service provide this functionality is not the same IMO.

I use carbon copies to record paper checks which only happens every other month or so. I track the balance online.

I should ask my CU about this, it sure makes sense. Yep, I don't want to go to an outside source like Mint for this, but the fact that they do it shows there is demand for it, and it is do-able.

I'm glad your system works for you in your lifestyle. For us, our method is working just fine.

We're uncomfortable sharing a checkbook and not making an entry in the register whenever we write a check. It's just a simple, quick and easy courtesy to each other.

Your method is obviously a huge success for you, so..... carry on!

We write very few checks, and I keep a decent buffer in checking. We both know that any check of just a few hundred or so is no big deal, write it, mention it so I'm not surprised when it shows up on-line (I get emails for each and every debit).

If either of us have to write a big check, we would make sure there is a buffer, and I pencil it in on my pencil/paper literal back-of-an-old-envelope tracking system, that just summarizes the major debit/credits I know of on-line.

I have no idea what is in the checkbook register. I have not even seen it in years, I think. DW would not know what the balance is, because there are far more non-check debits/credits that occur outside the checkbook. But knowing there is 'enough' for small checks, and 'check with me' on big checks is what works for us.

-ERD50

 

[Dash man]

If you think keeping a checkbook register is old fashioned I saw a woman at Valley National Bank the other day take money out of her passbook savings account. I was shocked that A) these still existed and B) that they actually had a passbook printer updater thingy. I haven't had one of these since my first savings account when I was about 8 or 9.

You still go into a bank? I can't remember the last time I was in one.


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[2017ish]

You still go into a bank? I can't remember the last time I was in one.


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we do it for foreign currency before trips. Better exchange rates than most places, and easy/discreet. (can get the currency and pack it away)

 

[audreyh1]

I'm glad your system works for you in your lifestyle. For us, our method is working just fine.

We're uncomfortable sharing a checkbook and not making an entry in the register whenever we write a check. It's just a simple, quick and easy courtesy to each other.

Your method is obviously a huge success for you, so..... carry on!

Noting a check # and amount in the register is one thing. Using the register to balance a checking account where <5% of the transactions involve handwritten checks is a whole different ballgame.

 

[jags86]

You still go into a bank? I can't remember the last time I was in one.


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My apartment requires quarters for the washers and dryers...it's a necessary evil to pick up $20 in quarters a month.


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[kneehigh]

I rarely use a check to pay unless a merchant doesn't accept debit or credit (balance is paid off every month). I use YNAB (as Katsmeow) to maintain a budget and keep tract of all the accounts. It does all the math calculation for you. YNAB has changed how I handle my income and expenses. I did use mint at one time, but YNAB is a lot more useful to me on a daily basis. When using the mobile app, as an example, YNAB will automatically know that you're shopping at Vons and will even fill in the category such as groceries for you. Love the whole system. I also use bill payer to pay the bills and snap deposit so I never have to go to the credit union unless I had cash to deposit.

 

[ERD50]

Noting a check # and amount in the register is one thing. Using the register to balance a checking account where <5% of the transactions involve handwritten checks is a whole different ballgame.

Right, I made some of that point a few posts back. We have the 'carbon copy' style checks, so we really don't even need to write it down in the register, but we certainly would if not for that. But when the check transactions are a minor influence on the balance, all we'd be doing is keeping the register synced with the current balance from other transactions, and that's just keeping two sets of books. But if that works for some people, that's fine too. I just seems pointless for our way of working.

-ERD50

 

[Fedup]

Not anymore. I haven't not balance my check book for years. I don't see the reason.


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[youbet]

Noting a check # and amount in the register is one thing. Using the register to balance a checking account where <5% of the transactions involve handwritten checks is a whole different ballgame.

Our system works great for us Audrey. Glad to hear you're happy with yours!