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Home > Archive > Medicine transcription > November 2005 > Do you balance your checkbook?
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| Author |
Do you balance your checkbook?
|
|
| Gisele 2005-11-27, 12:52 pm |
|
I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that. I
just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
handle this brave new electronic banking world?
Gisele
--
Gisele
| |
| DJGordon 2005-11-27, 12:52 pm |
| Microsoft Money auto downloads from my bank (US Bank) and then when my
statement comes in I enter beginning and ending balance and it auto balances
for me. I pay $3.00 a month to download automatically, even though I could
download manually and do it that way, but it also lets me do transactions
from Money without even going to the bank's Web site separately. I can do
funds transfers, bill pay, etc. from within Money and never even have to go
to usbank and go through five or six steps.
Dani
"Gisele" <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com...
>
> I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
> while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
> everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
> last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
> error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
> statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
> many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
> all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that. I
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
>
> Gisele
>
>
> --
> Gisele
| |
| Judity 2005-11-27, 12:52 pm |
| I haven't balanced my checkbook in years. What I do is enter the amount of
the check in one column then deduct up to the next $10 in the running
balance. Every now and then I'll check my account balance online to keep
this fudge factor from getting too high at which point I online shift a few
hundred into my saving account at the same bank.
I do keep the amount needed in my checking plus interest account to keep
from having any fees levied and get a small amount of interest each month,
too.
Works for me!
Judity
I are a auther @ Writing.Com
http://Writing.Com/authors/judity
| |
| Phyllis Nilsson 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
| I don't do on-line banking of any sort, but, up until my husband had his
stroke last year, he handled the check book. He NEVER balanced it.
When I took it over while he was in the hospital, the bank's balance
read more than $7,000 more than the check book register.
Knowing it was a mistake, I asked the bank to check it. It wasn't a
mistake. Because he never balanced the check book, he never realized
how much money was in the account. I didn't bother telling him either.
Judity wrote:
> I haven't balanced my checkbook in years. What I do is enter the amount of
> the check in one column then deduct up to the next $10 in the running
> balance. Every now and then I'll check my account balance online to keep
> this fudge factor from getting too high at which point I online shift a few
> hundred into my saving account at the same bank.
>
> I do keep the amount needed in my checking plus interest account to keep
> from having any fees levied and get a small amount of interest each month,
> too.
>
> Works for me!
>
> Judity
> I are a auther @ Writing.Com
> http://Writing.Com/authors/judity
>
>
| |
|
| I use MS Money but refuse to pay my bank (Bank of America) to download....so
when the statement is ready, I open a window with the bank statement and
then open Money and reconcile.
"Gisele" <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com...
>
> I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
> while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
> everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
> last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
> error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
> statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
> many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
> all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that. I
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
>
> Gisele
>
>
> --
> Gisele
| |
| Gisele 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
|
> Microsoft Money auto downloads from my bank (US Bank) and then when my
> statement comes in I enter beginning and ending balance and it auto
> balances
> for me.
Ooh, autobalance, that sounds neat! I will see what my credit union
has to offer. Right now, it seems the only purpose for entering
transactions into my Quicken is just so that I keep a good idea of how
much money I have on hand.
Gisele
--
Gisele
| |
| DJGordon 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
| Well, it's not a feature of my bank that auto balances, that is a Microsoft
Money feature and I love it.
Dani
"Gisele" <Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com...
>
>
> Ooh, autobalance, that sounds neat! I will see what my credit union
> has to offer. Right now, it seems the only purpose for entering
> transactions into my Quicken is just so that I keep a good idea of how
> much money I have on hand.
>
> Gisele
>
>
> --
> Gisele
| |
| Margie 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
| I use Quickbooks, and when my statement arrives in the mail I click on
"reconcile" and go through the steps. It won't let you "leave" until
you are in balance. Thank goodness.
I do check my online bank balance several times a week, since I mail
my deposits to my branch and want to make sure they arrive. I write
very few checks any more. The hardest part is remembering to input
the payments into Quickbooks.
Margie
On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 14:05:03 -0600, "DJGordon"
<danigordon@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>Well, it's not a feature of my bank that auto balances, that is a Microsoft
>Money feature and I love it.
>
>Dani
>
>"Gisele" <Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com> wrote in message
>news:Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com...
>
| |
| Gisele 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
|
> Well, it's not a feature of my bank that auto balances, that is a
> Microsoft
> Money feature and I love it.
>
> Dani
Understood, but my credit might offer something similar.
Gisele
--
Gisele
| |
| RaeMorrill 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
| LOL. My luck would likely run the other direction!
Phyllis Nilsson wrote:
> I don't do on-line banking of any sort, but, up until my husband had his
> stroke last year, he handled the check book. He NEVER balanced it. When
> I took it over while he was in the hospital, the bank's balance read
> more than $7,000 more than the check book register.
>
> Knowing it was a mistake, I asked the bank to check it. It wasn't a
> mistake. Because he never balanced the check book, he never realized
> how much money was in the account. I didn't bother telling him either.
>
> Judity wrote:
>
>
| |
|
| To the last penny! And if it doesn't balance I'll waste as much time as it
takes going back to see why it doesn't. I think it's an illness I inherited
from my father.
Liz
"Gisele" <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com...
>
> I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
> while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
> everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
> last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
> error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
> statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
> many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
> all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that. I
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
>
> Gisele
>
>
> --
> Gisele
| |
| Maureen 2005-11-27, 5:53 pm |
| I do the same thing Judity. I round down the deposits and round up the
withdrawals. Oh, and I bury money in the account for things as I go along
and keep a separate running balance. Iuse to balance every month, but I
haven't done it for about five years now and I think if I even tried, I
would just make myself nuts. My register shows a lot less money in the
account than the bank does and it also helps to keep the husband from
running around and spending.
Maureen
"Judity" <Judity01@aol.com> wrote in message
news:3uucamF13cigcU1@individual.net...
>I haven't balanced my checkbook in years. What I do is enter the amount of
>the check in one column then deduct up to the next $10 in the running
>balance. Every now and then I'll check my account balance online to keep
>this fudge factor from getting too high at which point I online shift a few
>hundred into my saving account at the same bank.
>
> I do keep the amount needed in my checking plus interest account to keep
> from having any fees levied and get a small amount of interest each month,
> too.
>
> Works for me!
>
> Judity
> I are a auther @ Writing.Com
> http://Writing.Com/authors/judity
>
>
| |
| Judity 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| ((I round down the deposits and round up the
withdrawals. ))
Maureen, I used to do the same thing with my paycheck deposits. Now that I
only get the SS check monthly, I just don't do anything with it in my
checkbook.
Judity
I are a auther @ Writing.Com
http://Writing.Com/authors/judity
| |
| Jeannie Wilson 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| Gisele <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote here for all to
seenews:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com:
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
I compare my Quickbooks ledger daily with my online banking ledger but I
still manually reconcile my accounts monthly. I love online banking but I
like the double-checking that I do just to make sure nothing snuck by me.
I've had issues with the bank clearing checks twice and causing a mess so I
am a bit OCD about it.
| |
| Jeannie Wilson 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| Gisele <Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com> wrote here for all to
seenews:Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com:
> nto my Quicken is just so that I keep a good idea of how
> much money I have on hand.
I have every penny of our expenses categorized so at the end of the year I
know exactly how much I spent on what - not only things like utility bills,
etc but laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, decorations, kitchen items
like dishes, linens/towels, etc.
| |
| RaeMorrill 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| GAWD never knew my father had kids outside of marriage! LOL. That sounds
JUST like something he'd do. I don't even want to know what I spend on
that stuff
Jeannie Wilson wrote:
> Gisele <Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com> wrote here for all to
> seenews:Gisele.1z67bc@nospam.com:
>
>
>
>
> I have every penny of our expenses categorized so at the end of the year I
> know exactly how much I spent on what - not only things like utility bills,
> etc but laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, decorations, kitchen items
> like dishes, linens/towels, etc.
| |
| Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| Bam wrote:
> I use MS Money but refuse to pay my bank (Bank of America) to download....so
> when the statement is ready, I open a window with the bank statement and
> then open Money and reconcile.
It doesn't cost me a cent to get online access to my B of A account, and
I download into Quicken just fine.
I mini-balance my account every time I download transactions.
| |
| Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| Gisele wrote:
>
> Ooh, autobalance, that sounds neat! I will see what my credit union
> has to offer. Right now, it seems the only purpose for entering
> transactions into my Quicken is just so that I keep a good idea of how
> much money I have on hand.
I have a credit union account on top of my B of A account, and my credit
union has the same downloading feature as B of A does.
| |
| DJGordon 2005-11-28, 12:53 am |
| Doesn't cost me a penny to download either. It's just if you want the auto
download and other features that can go with it. I can not pay the $3.00,
open Money, open US Bank, auto download, but if you don't get the dates and
your download times just right you can have repeating transactions. The way
I have it set up is that when I open Money, I log in with my NET passport,
and it auto contacts my bank, downloads my transactions, updates to Money,
stocks and securities info, and a few other things. That's what I like about
that part. I don't like the $36 a year along with the $7.50 a month I pay
for my checking account, but I have had this account so long I hate to
switch anything around.
Dani
"Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send" <mmeahan@TRASHsonic.net> wrote in
message news:438a940b$0$38581$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Bam wrote:
>
> It doesn't cost me a cent to get online access to my B of A account, and I
> download into Quicken just fine.
>
> I mini-balance my account every time I download transactions.
| |
|
| Y'all have more money than me.... I have a "cheapie" checking account :-)
If I upgrade my account (read had more money) or pay $3.00 I, too, could
download it.
"Bam" <dearcounselor@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3uudslF137rpkU1@individual.net...
> I use MS Money but refuse to pay my bank (Bank of America) to
download....so
> when the statement is ready, I open a window with the bank statement and
> then open Money and reconcile.
>
>
>
> "Gisele" <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com...
>
>
| |
| Jeannie Wilson 2005-11-28, 10:53 am |
| RaeMorrill <RaeMorrill@aol.com> wrote here for all to
seenews:Qmvif.77387$JQ.37885@twister.nyroc.rr.com:
> GAWD never knew my father had kids outside of marriage! LOL. That sounds
> JUST like something he'd do. I don't even want to know what I spend on
> that stuff
It helps when you are sitting there at the end of the year wondering where
all your money went. LOL. I'd much rather know exactly what we spend on
what.
| |
| Blupencl 2005-11-28, 10:53 am |
|
Online banking has saved me from having everything I own taken away from
me at one point or other.
Since my painful divorce from BOA in October, I have had to (yikes!)
write checks and send them because I haven't had time to set everything
up in my new bank.
The other sad news is that I think I killed off MSMoney. Now that I see
what it can do, I wish I had it back. 
--
Blupencl
| |
| Phyllis Nilsson 2005-11-28, 10:53 am |
| As long as I have a positive balance, I don't wonder (or really care)
where our money went.
Jeannie Wilson wrote:
> RaeMorrill <RaeMorrill@aol.com> wrote here for all to
> seenews:Qmvif.77387$JQ.37885@twister.nyroc.rr.com:
>
>
>
>
> It helps when you are sitting there at the end of the year wondering where
> all your money went. LOL. I'd much rather know exactly what we spend on
> what.
| |
| LizzieB. 2005-11-28, 12:52 pm |
| Jeannie Wilson wrote:
> I have every penny of our expenses categorized so at the end of the year I
> know exactly how much I spent on what - not only things like utility bills,
> etc but laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, decorations, kitchen items
> like dishes, linens/towels, etc.
I do that too. Sure makes tax time a helluva lot easier (yes, I do my own).
I use Quicken because I have it, but preferred QuickBooks though I
wasn't willing to part with the cash to get it. I have Money but I'm
not touching it now that I'm in sync with Quicken.
I balance my checkbook every single day the bank has new information
(barring holiday issues, never on Mondays), and I do that by hand (color
coded, even!). I really only care that my checkbook match the bank
(can't use the husband excuse because he looks at the bank balance
online so I can't undercut his spending), but my OCD gets away with me
and before you know it, I'm penny-to-penny on every account in my
Quicken, including the checkbook.
So I think the real question is: Why do I find doing that fun?
| |
| LizzieB. 2005-11-28, 12:52 pm |
| Blupencl wrote:
> The other sad news is that I think I killed off MSMoney. Now that I see
> what it can do, I wish I had it back.
Becky, email me at ebeeton at kc dot rr dot com.
| |
| The Other Kim 2005-11-28, 12:52 pm |
| I guess I do a combination of things. I get my bank statements online,
and I check for automatic transactions every week; however, I still
print out the monthly statements and balance everything through Quicken
the old-fashioned way. I'm sometimes sloppy when entering things and
sometimes won't catch when I've put a payment in as a deposit, and vice
versa. I haven't had to go to the overdraft protection since I started
doing this regularly some 6 years ago.
The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom
"Gisele" <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com...
>
> I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
> while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
> everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
> last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
> error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
> statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
> many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
> all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that.
I
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing
this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
>
> Gisele
>
>
> --
> Gisele
| |
| Rennie 2005-11-28, 12:52 pm |
| All I do is compare the Quicken register to my manual check register (the
balance). I will only do an old-fashioned reconciliation if there's a
discrepancy I can't easily account for, which is rare. I don't use Quicken's
reconciliation feature at all; I just don't like it! If I do an
old-fashioned reconciliation, I use an Excel spreadsheet.
--
Gayla "Rennie" Bly
www.renesue.com
www.mtcottage.com
"Gisele" <Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1z61pl@nospam.com...
>
> I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
> while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
> everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
> last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
> error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
> statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
> many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
> all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that. I
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
| |
| Anne Vasquez 2005-11-28, 5:53 pm |
| I still balance the old-fashioned way, writing transactions in my ledger
and balancing with a calculator. I do check against the bank online
several times a week, just to make sure, though. To be honest, since my
aunt's computer was hacked, I'm a little wary of keeping financial
records on my computer.
Anne
Gisele wrote:
> I was entering checking/debit card transactions into Quicken yesterday
> while checking my online bank statement to see that I'd gotten
> everything entered, and it occured to me that I couldn't remember the
> last time I had been unable to balance my statment or had caught an
> error on my credit union's part. I tried downloading the bank
> statement directly into Quicken a couple of years ago, but I found so
> many errors (some transactions downloading more than once, some not at
> all so that I had to enter them manually) that I stopped doing that. I
> just wonder, am I the only one still going to the trouble of doing this,
> now that it's so easy to check transactions online? How do you all
> handle this brave new electronic banking world?
>
> Gisele
>
>
| |
| Anne Vasquez 2005-11-28, 5:53 pm |
| Oh man, I'd LOVE to find an error like that in my checkbook!! However,
if I stopped balancing, you can be sure what kind of error I'd make... :-(
Anne
Phyllis Nilsson wrote:
> I don't do on-line banking of any sort, but, up until my husband had his
> stroke last year, he handled the check book. He NEVER balanced it. When
> I took it over while he was in the hospital, the bank's balance read
> more than $7,000 more than the check book register.
>
> Knowing it was a mistake, I asked the bank to check it. It wasn't a
> mistake. Because he never balanced the check book, he never realized
> how much money was in the account. I didn't bother telling him either.
>
> Judity wrote:
>
>
| |
| Anne Vasquez 2005-11-28, 5:53 pm |
| I'm afraid it's the $7.50 a month I'd be kicking about. I've had free
checking for so long, I'd almost forgotten about monthly fees!
Anne
DJGordon wrote:
> Doesn't cost me a penny to download either. It's just if you want the auto
> download and other features that can go with it. I can not pay the $3.00,
> open Money, open US Bank, auto download, but if you don't get the dates and
> your download times just right you can have repeating transactions. The way
> I have it set up is that when I open Money, I log in with my NET passport,
> and it auto contacts my bank, downloads my transactions, updates to Money,
> stocks and securities info, and a few other things. That's what I like about
> that part. I don't like the $36 a year along with the $7.50 a month I pay
> for my checking account, but I have had this account so long I hate to
> switch anything around.
>
> Dani
| |
| Anne Vasquez 2005-11-28, 5:53 pm |
| I get hives just thinking about it. Sometimes I think I'd rather be an
ostrich! <G>
Anne
Jeannie Wilson wrote:
>
>
>
> I have every penny of our expenses categorized so at the end of the year I
> know exactly how much I spent on what - not only things like utility bills,
> etc but laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, decorations, kitchen items
> like dishes, linens/towels, etc.
| |
| Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send 2005-11-29, 12:54 am |
| Anne Vasquez wrote:
> several times a week, just to make sure, though. To be honest, since my
> aunt's computer was hacked, I'm a little wary of keeping financial
I have all personal and financial data stored in an encrypted directory
with a freeware program called Cryptainer, and it is only opened when I
need to look at it. The program is HIPAA compliant, too, and I also
have separate individual directories for each account I have PHI-laden
files for.
| |
|
|
> I get hives just thinking about it.
HEY!! NO ONE SAYS THAT WORD!!!!
Bam, h**e free for almost 10 days
| |
| Anne Vasquez 2005-11-29, 12:54 am |
| I promise not to mention it again! <G>
I'm so glad you're doing better. Stay on the right track!
Anne
Bam wrote:
>
>
> HEY!! NO ONE SAYS THAT WORD!!!!
>
> Bam, h**e free for almost 10 days
>
>
|
| |
|
|