The longest I can go w/o tallying things up is about a week, & even then I feel like a damn fool

A friend of mine literally NEVER balances - she just guesses... ALL THE TIME... WTF? How do people do that? I feel like I have to know what's happening, it's too easy to tear through your $ w/ miscellaneous shit. A simple Target run can end up near or over $100 I mean really...

What's your relationship w/ your checkbook?

Or is that outdated? Maybe it's your online banking statement?

Fuck that, I'm still pen & paper

i never balance my checkbook.

of course, i only write one check a month, for my rent. i follow my checking account closely via telebanker services, but i would never trust my math abilities to tell me how much money i have.

I dont use my chequebook much (sorry, but am British!) but I have so litle money that I absolutely have to know where everything is at every moment. otherwise I end up spending more than I have. Im a student you see, when Im working and earning decent money I probably wont care to check. Ill know I have enough. Cant wait til those days come!!

I never manually balance my checkbook. I just login to my online banking and check it daily, it basically outlines it all for me. The only tricky thing, is checks I wrote don't show up on there till the person cashes them, so sometimes it shows a little more than what I really have in there. But it's not that big of a deal, because I make a mental note of what I really have.

I tried using programs like Microsoft Money and Quicken, and honestly, it takes too much time to enter all that shit in every day. I keep a list of my monthly expenses, and every paycheck, I just go down the list and pay whats due at that time.

I balance that fucker on my pocket pc with every transaction. It's essential to someone with borderline OCD

I've never had a checking account.

My finances are way too tight to not keep a very accurate balance at all times. I never ever bounce any checks either and I would be willing to bet unless you are rich if you don't balance your checkbook you have screwed up a time or two at a tune of $30 bank fees.

Tom said:

i don't either. my checks are carbon copies, so i don't write them down. i also have a line of credit/overdraft protection so i never bounce checks at all.

i keep track of things generally through the phone bank services, but i'm not someone who can't rest until every penny is accounted for. maybe i'm naive but i trust my bank and they do a good job for me

i dont balance mine either. i only write a check for one bill and that is all anyway. i balance mine by banking online. in the past i've had my share of bounced checks 'cause i thought i had more than what i had. never again!

I dont balance mine...I pretty much make the same purchases every month. So I know whats going.

when I get spontaneous and go out to eat or go shopping,thats when I balance it.

I online bank. I write one check for rent too. It's much easier to control and it's automatic. No more me forgetting when to pay or writing the check or buying a stamp or hitting the mailbox. I have enough to remember as it is.

jerseykrs said:

My mate Julie - who should have an OCD book based on her; I wouldn't know where to start - actually has this little book she fills out every time she buys something.

She lists

~ What she bought
~ How much it cost
~ The name of the shop
~ remaining balance

then trots out.

Apart from the fact I couldn't be bothered to do that every single time, I'd feel embarrassed looking so anal in front of the cashier/other customers.

But, hey - that's why she's loaded and I'm not.


As for me, I just use my memory. Seems to work.

i never balanced!!

and i use my debt card alllll the time
so when things were getting down to the bottom
there is always that fear as you are standing at the counter
you think you have enough in the account to cover it....
but there is always that chance it's going to come back

INSUFFICIENT FUNDS!!!!!

so i have recently fallen in love with online banking.
i am up to date with my bills too - and i am never up to date paying my bills!

i know i'm just a few years behind the times
but i am so glad to have it now!!

sextonseven said:

so what illegal business are you in?

yeah, i keep track online. what's the point of balancing a checkbook now days, well i suppose if it helps you sleep at night.

Strictly online transactions for me, I rarely write a check for anything except rent. Utilities, purchases from the store, groceries, gas...everything is usually paid for with my debit card, so it instantly shows up as "Pending" on my online statement. I usually keep a pretty accurate running tab in my head, though, but if I need specifics I just log into my account online and get an immediate balance.

sinisterpentatonic said:

I stopped balancing my checkbook over ten years ago.

I used to do it religiously. Then, I got a job which involved lots of travel. I got delinquent in my 'balancing act', and soon enough, I realized I didn't need to. I know (give or take a negligible amount of money) how much I have in my account at any given time.

I'm good with money.

I lost my chequebook a couple of years ago.

Tom said:

I basically do the same thing. In addition to keeping track of my account balance online, I keep a simple list on my computer of checks that I've written, so I can tell which checks haven't yet cleared my bank (and thus effectively reduce my available balance). And while I've never bounced a check in my life, I do have a line of credit with my bank that serves as overdraft protection, just in case I make a mistake.

In the past I paid almost all of my bills online, but I'm currently trying to get rid of checks with an outdated address. (I'm almost finished.) Yes, this is irrational. I already have a box of checks with my current address, so I should just shred the old checks, go back to paying bills online, and save the cost of postage. OTOH, I have literally hundreds of $.37 commemorative Greta Garbo stamps too, and I figure that I might as well use up at least some of them, especially now that the usual postage for First-Class Mail is $.39.

Oh, and unless you have a good excuse (e.g., your bank never gave you the PIN for a debit card that doesn't also work as a Visa or MasterCard), anyone who writes a check to pay for something in a store deserves to be tarred and feathered.

I never do mine

I dont sleep well either

CalhounSq said:

I used to be REALLY bad and would never do it. Of course this led to many disappointing discoveries and also made me realize once that I spent over $500 at Starbucks in about 4 months time.

I don't have that problem now because I just don't have any money ever anyway. At least I always know that.

Oh, and I haven't written out a paper check thingie in almost eight years I think.
[Edited 3/2/06 13:49pm]

I lag on this sooooo bad...I have gone months without doing it...then when I do I find out I have more money then I thought...and sometimes less money then I though.....This is one thing I need to NOT lag on as much as I do...such is life I guess.

matt said:

Shut it

I NEVER know how much money I have.
I never record the checks I write.
I am a bad bad bad girl.

CalhounSq said:

You knew I was about to come wit it... Din'tcha?

I balance it about every other day at least and if you asked me I could probably tell you the exact balance within $5. I don't do online checking b/c sometimes I have to play "juggle the bills," you know, mail the bills so they won't be late, and then my paycheck gets direct deposited while the bills are in the mail. I used to not have to do that game, but I moved to New York which is much more expensive than Chicago, my job doesn't pay as much as I was earning in Chicago, and my graduate school loans are now in repayment...

Anx said:

GAT DAYUM!! Y'all some online muufuckas!!



I know I'm outdated & believe me the amount of paper in my house makes me fucking NUTS!!! But I ain't ready to let it go yet I like knowing that I can look in my purse & know what's happening instead of having to log on somewhere...

I still pay most of my bills with paper checks

Matt, you'll be glad to know I ALWAYS use my debit card in stores

ThreadBare said:

Dude, I almost apologized to yo ass in my initial post!!