Do you still balance your checkbook?

[charlz]

Got a little behind logging purchases into my checkbook register... started to wonder if it is even worth it anymore? Mostly just double checking that a computer can do math? The only errors I ever find are 1)mine, either writing a number down wrong or adding when I should subtract etc. or 2) a restaurant or other place does not include the tip when processing the receipt. Anymore I have even stopped getting receipts as it is easier to balance the checkbook when i log them in the same order they clear my account. I only use about 5 or 6 checks a year now... mostly just to pay things like property tax or at the DMV where they charge more to use a card.

Obviously a periodic review of your statements/accounts is a good thing just in case there is fraud etc. but that doesn't require 'full blown' checkbook balancing.


How many have given up logging checks, receipts etc. and just go by the balance the bank says you have (mentally accounting for outstanding checks etc.)?

 

[sixdogs]

I don't write checks for a week before the end of the statement and it balances itself. The numbers almost always agree and if they don't I can quickly see why.

 

[jcbGM]

Check? What's this "check" you speak of? There's been so many changes in banking. First off, no we don't balance our checkbook, but we do have a "system". I'm paid monthly which helps. All bills are paid electronically the day the deposit goes in. Other funds are electronically divided among other accounts (savings, vacation, etc). A nominal balance stays in checking for groceries and incidentals. We grocery shop once per week and wife's car gets fuel once per week. Not much to track with the occasional shopping trip for clothes or dinner out. I'm the spreadsheet geek and login to check checking account activity daily. Checking account is double protected for overtldraft with auto withdrawal from savings and a bank issued credit card. Neither are ever needed.

 

[ultrarunner]

Always and have multiple accounts to keep track of... personal, small business, several property accounts and then I do Moms.

More than once having a cancel check has saved the day... also I can account for every penny spent business property wise going back to 1982.

 

[TractorGuy]

I keep an excel spreadsheet on my checking account and balance it at least twice a week. I also check all my accounts online every other day to make sure my numbers match the credit union and that no one has skimmed any of my cards. I have had my debit card compromised once and my credit card another time. Both events they got less than $300 before I caught it and the credit union reimbursed me.

 

[von-mil]

I might go 2 or 3 months in between my checkbok 'balancing' simply because there just aren't nearly as many transactions as there used to be.

Different story for credit cards. I keep track of every credit card purchase and always compare with the monthly statements. Sometimes even mid-month compares using the card's website.

 

[SARG]

I keep an excel spreadsheet on my checking account and balance it at least twice a week. I also check all my accounts online every other day to make sure my numbers match the credit union and that no one has skimmed any of my cards. I have had my debit card compromised once and my credit card another time. Both events they got less than $300 before I caught it and the credit union reimbursed me.

I'm with JD. I monitor the accounts on line almost daily. My wife however goes bugshit trying to keep the checking account balanced to her satisfaction.

 

[EddieWalker]

No, I haven't balanced my checkbook in over a decade. I write down each check, how much and who to, but rely on my online statement to know how much cash I have in my account.

 

[Bird]

I just checked and found that I wrote 4 checks in 2014, and one check each year in 2015 and 2016. We do nearly everything either online or with credit cards. But being retired with plenty of time, I enter EVERYTHING on Quicken (even cash expenditures). And I do check the credit union website, as well as the credit card websites, a few times each month, and I do reconcile the bank statement EVERY month, just as I do match up all the receipts with the credit card bills EVERY month.

 

[nybirdman]

Still old school for me.I use a Money program on my computer and keep track of two checking accounts ,loans and credit cards.