Friday, August 29, 2008

Scared of the checkbook!

I have been being very lazy about my checkbook for a while now. I used to be so good with it. Checking it and balancing it every month even when most months were zero activity. But then I started slacking...a lot.

I stopped figuring out the balance when I wrote a check. I even stopped opening up my statements. I knew how much I had put in there and knew I hadn't written more than I took out, so I'm all good. right?

Well today I find out. Time to balance the check book. Those who've been reading my blog for a while are probably laughing your heads off cuz you know that I used to be the treasurer for a large non-profit organization. If they knew what I was doing now they would be very upset with me...cuz yeah, I let their books slide sometimes too.

But no one is in danger of overdraft or bank fees. I would never do that.

So let's see how bad it is... I'll keep you posted.

THE UPDATE: Well I finally figured everything out and found that I had made an error when I was trying to keep a running balance in my checkbook. I don't know how, but I miscalculated my balance by $100! So I was running around with an extra $100 in there that I didn't even know about. WOW! Perhaps I shouldn't have fixed the register. LOL! Not that I've ever been in any danger of writing more than I have, but my mom always used that kind of checkbook keeping to make herself save money.
I guess I won't do that since I use this account not for saving money but to pay for all the piddly things that come up...to keep DH from wondering when my friends are going to cash their checks. As it stands now there are two open checks from a long time ago that would drive him bonkers, but don't bother me at all.

4 comments:

  1. We must be related...I balance my checkbook about once every 4-6 months. Like you, I know what I put in, and I know how much I am writing checks for...I usually balance it when I know that I am getting low on funds. Good luck...I hope you find that you have lots more money than you thought = )

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  2. I hate checkbooks I don't do any of that kind of stuff. I don't really see the point when you can just pay for everything with a credit card and just do money that way.

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  3. OK...I admit it...I haven't balanced my checkbook in years. I have a general idea what my account balance is but certainly not to the penny...not even to a $100...but I'm proud to say that I've never been overdrawn so I must be doing something right. Oh, did I mention I'm the child of a father with an MBA and a bookkeeper mother?

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  4. Want to come look at mine and figure out where the extra $1500 that the bank says I have in there came from?!?! It's been there forever, but I'm really scared that if I actually act like it's mine, then they are going to claim it isn't. And I've been back through two registries and cannot find the error. It's driving me crazy.

    (Especially as I have a lot of things I'd like to do with that $1500!)

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