Do you balance your checkbook/reconcile your account?

[Like2Plan]

Do you balance your checkbook/reconcile your account?

Yes. I keep a register. I reconcile against the monthly bank statement. (I try to do it monthly).

Yes, over the years I have found errors. One time I had an account that required a minimum balance in order to avoid paying fees. My deposit would drop into the account and I would wait a week or two before I paid any bills from it--never going below the minimum. So, I was really surprised to see the fee. I challenged the bank representative to tell me which day did the balance go below. The bank rep couldn't (because it hadn't), but had to "research" it. 2 weeks later, I hadn't heard back so I then talked to the manager who immediately fixed it. (I no longer have that account).

[phantom]

I just keep an eye on everything by comparing Mint and GnuCash. I treat Mint like my bank statements and GnuCash like my electronic checkbook. All of my consistent regular payments are programmed to show up in GnuCash automatically, and when I plan additional transactions, I enter them in. About once a month or so, I look to see if the balances between Mint and GnuCash match. If they don't, it usually means my HSA was late in cashing a check or that I missed a transaction. I've yet to find a bank error. Most of the time, I keep a big enough buffer that I don't have to worry about my balance. I only pay close attention when I have a property taxes or some other large payment coming up.

[msomnipotent]

I write everything into the check register, but I have to go online and check our balance every few days because my husband never writes in his withdrawals. Sometimes it can be a $1,000 difference because of him. Add to that the things we have on autopay, and I never know how much is really in there unless I check it. I have caught bank mistakes, too. I make sure everything is written in, and he reconciles it once a month with the bank. I'm in the habit of checking our credit card accounts every few days since they were all compromised, too.

[bjl584]

Yes. I keep everything in an old fashioned check register.

[rennigade]

I update my register once every 1.5 weeks...sometimes every other week. I only write one check a month but I pay all other bills through checking. I also fund all of my investment accounts through my checking so there are always transactions to keep up with.

Whenever the total is balanced and it matches whats online ill draw an underline under the total amount. That way if I ever have issues a few transactions later I know the checkbook was correct up to that point.

One time my checkbook register was wrong...it was off by around $100 in my favor. I called wachovia at the time and asked why I had $100 more than I should of. The service rep basically snickered and said the total amount was correct and there must be an issue with my register. Sure enough 2 days later the bank made the correction and the $100 vanished like it was never there. They would have found the issue regardless so its not like if I never called I would have been $100 richer.

Moral of the story. The only person I trust to keep track of my finances is me.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Having the buffer certainly makes up for the effect of errors but doesn't stop them from happening.

True but I think we write maybe 3 checks a month? The rest is epay so there is very few things that aren't reconciled. And we aren't debit card users or taking cash out of atm is rare.

So we have balance, credit card/utility payments etc, then check to cleaners and piano teacher and that's pretty much it.

[scfr]

I have had family members not cash checks that I sent to them, and I noticed when reconciling my account. After several months, I send them a reminder. It happened recently with my mother who had misplaced the check and had no idea where it was, so I sent her a replacement check. But I also made a mental note to be on the lookout for more signs of cognitive decline.

[DaveInPgh]

I have had family members not cash checks that I sent to them, and I noticed when reconciling my account. After several months, I send them a reminder. It happened recently with my mother who had misplaced the check and had no idea where it was, so I sent her a replacement check. But I also made a mental note to be on the lookout for more signs of cognitive decline.

We have had this issue with my BIL and the team manager for my child's soccer team. The mean manager is the one that irked me the most because she would constantly nag parents to get their payments in, but the checks wouldn't clear for weeks/months. One parent ended up telling her he wasn't giving her another check until she deposited what she was holding on to. This year we were given an option to pay online via credit card and jumped all over that one.

[sv2007]

We check our checking accounts once per month when we receive our statement. We stopped balancing the check book years ago.

[GoodSteward]

We check our checking accounts once per month when we receive our statement. We stopped balancing the check book years ago.

wait..what? What do you compare the statement to?

Or do you just admire all those numbers on the statement?

[GoodSteward]

I use Ynab. It's a check register, credit card keeper-upper(my word lol), and budgeter. There is an app you can enter transaction into, or you can just wait and let it auto download every couple days when things clear. Just approve what it imports real quick, should match to what you have entered, and hit reconcile. Check to the bank balance and go. Just a few seconds if i don't wait for too many days to do it.

I love how it handles credit cards. I have my rewards card that I used for most of my monthly bills, gas, food, etc. Pretty much everything now. Your budget ties it all together. For instance, you get paid in your checking account and put 100$ into Gas. You spend 30$ on gas and it posts on the credit card. You select gas under category for that transaction and it knows it was done on a card and pulls 30$ from gas and puts it into the payment section of the budget for that card. Spend 10$ on food on the card. Mark it food once it posts(or before with the app), and it moves 10$ from food to the amount available for a payment on the card. Now it will show 40$ set aside for the credit card. When you make a payment from checking it automatically puts a payment transaction under the credit card, and you just wait for it to clear. Simple.

Because of how easy all this is I reconcile multiple times a week.

[Atretes1]

I use to reconcile my checking account in Quicken but no more. I only use my checking account for depositing checks and payments that I can not make with a credit card. I do however, look at all the charges in my checking account and credit card and look for anything out of place. Theoretically, I could have a fraudulent charge at a place I normally go and not notice the way I do it.

[Shewillbemine]

Yes. I do this twice a month and have found it to be a very worthwhile and meaningful exercise.

[Eagle]

I maybe write 1 check every month or so. Everything is done online through www.mint.com and a spreadsheet. Usually once a week. Sometimes once every other week.

[feh]

Do you regularly balance your checkbook or reconcile other accounts? If not, why not?

No, I haven't done this in several years.

Why? Probably because of mint.com. I visit every day, and I see every transaction.