Money management question....debate at home!

Dayna154 · May 2012

I’m old fashioned but I look at my accounts to what is left, where I live not everything gets sent thru daily. So if I spent it I take it off on the register.. I am always ahead of the bank. I have used this for 30+ years and have yet to have an overdraft...
I have other friends who also use a register and haven’t had one either.
I stick with simple things that work.
I have several friends who go with the daily account online balance and 'forget' something they spent and then pay enormous bank and overdraft fees.. More than once and SEVERAL friends.. Let the bank have a computer glitch and you will pay!! You may get reimbursed eventually but.... You wont have that money til its all straightened out..
I like what works for me... it’s simple and it works..

DianatheRed · May 2012

I am a total freak about this! In my home, I am the finance person because I HAVE TO KNOW down to the penny where everything is. I am a planner by nature and I can't plan for things without having the money waiting there for me to spend. My husband has had to learn that when I say we don't have money, I mean we don't have money for that particular thing because it wasn't in my budget. I know when he spends money (not that he isn't "allowed") because I check the bank records with my records at least once a day. It has helped us tremendously, though. There have been charges I caught and got corrected before it even cleared the bank! Also, for someone on a budget, it is the ONLY way to know where every dollar is going. I use Quicken, my online banking, and a couple of excel spreadsheets so that I know exactly what we have coming in, when it got here, and how it will be spent/saved. (I can even tell you exactly how much we spent on our bills two years ago because I like to see the trends!)

LiftBigtoGetFit · May 2012

we use it to keep track some online payment take a few days to register and our debit card usually takes at least a few hours up to a day or two to register. we hardly ever use checks but when we do it can really throw us off if w don't track it. just what we do though, i know plenty of people who don't.

lripson28 · May 2012

My husband and I use an amazing app/website to manage out accounts... ClearCheckbook.com It has a smartphone app that we both have. You can put in there any accounts that you have and its just a checkbook. We have it set up to automatically add in our paychecks, and take out money for all of our bills on each payday. The bills don't get automatically paid, they're just all accounted for so that the only money we see active in our account, is money that we can use for extra things that aren't bills. So each month we don't really have to worry because we know that all of our bills will get paid with no problem. Because it syncs to both of our phones, if one of us spends money and marks it down right away, the other knows that instant what the other spent, no waiting around to get to a computer to check the bank site online. Great app/site, HIGHLY suggest it.

Jazzyjules71 · May 2012

I do it religiously now and save so much money taking the money out of each paycheck to pay for monthly bills!

Can you explain this a little, you save money by taking the money out of each paycheck to pay for monthly bills? What do you mean? I mean any chance for me to save money is great!!

Jazzyjules71 · May 2012

I keep a very detailed spreadsheet/budget. I know where every red cent is at every second of the day. Obsessive much? All it takes is one time as the victim of identity theft and you get a little crazy about your bank account. On the flip side, I only make about 4 payments a month out of my bank account so it's pretty easy to maintain.

Do you have to manually enter, or does it import some how?

cgsr · May 2012

YES! (I was a banker for 5 years, and had this conversation with my customers many time!)

So...I use Mint, have spreadsheets and my bank has a mobile app...all that said, a register (weather an old fashioned check register, spreadsheet, budgeting tool like Mint) is essential ESPECIALLY if you write checks and/or don't necessarily carry a high balance.

Banks make mistakes, contrary to popular belief, ALL the time...they just usually fix them before you notice.

So, I think you are absolutely right...keeping an account regster is essential so YOU know how much YOU have in YOUR account AT ALL TIMES. That's your responsibility, not the bank's...and who else should have complete control over your money (well besides your spouse

tinahalliday · May 2012

I used Quicken for years on my computer but then my computer kept crashing and I kept losing my info....so....that sent me for a online search for one that I could use and I found clearcheckbook.com that I can use wherever I have computer access and I won't lose my info if my computer crashes again. Best thing...I don't have any personal info in there like bank acct numbers or anything. So it's a check register, but it's an online one! We have so many payments coming in and out on a regular basis that I would never keep it straight otherwise!!!

flyingwrite · May 2012

I keep a very detailed spreadsheet/budget. I know where every red cent is at every second of the day. Obsessive much? All it takes is one time as the victim of identity theft and you get a little crazy about your bank account. On the flip side, I only make about 4 payments a month out of my bank account so it's pretty easy to maintain.

Do you have to manually enter, or does it import some how?

I manually enter it. My nickname is "the tracker". I log things first thing in the morning so it isn't cumbersome. I lay out the budget for the entire year so I know what I'm working with.

mistikal13 · May 2012

I still keep one

Elizabeth_C34 · May 2012

Thanks everyone for the responses! Looks like I should climb out of my cave and maybe give it up! I like the idea of an excel spreadsheet, but don't know if I could maintain it.

Thanks for the tips, my boyfriend will be glad to hear he won this debate! lol

If you are diligent enough to maintain a check register, you're diligent enough to maintain an excel spreadsheet. Honestly though, I don't know why you'd need to do either. Check with your bank and look into what online resources they have for budgeting and apps. There are some really good ones out there that will make money management much easier.

johnwhitent · May 2012

I'm an accountant. And I don't keep a check register of any kind.

Ditto. I do go online almost every day to look at my accounts.

Same here. My wife maintains her own account and spends hours playing with it, reconciling it, and moving everything to Excel to budget. She is old school with pencil and paper. I use Quickbooks and check activity online daily. Reconciling takes me less than two minutes at the end of the month while my wife struggles with papers all over the place, calculators, pencils rolling around for the dogs to snatch; way to much work for me!

Jazzyjules71 · May 2012

I haven't used a check register in a long time - but I almost never write checks anymore. Used Quicken for many years, but finally decided its budgeting functions were too weak. Tried Mint, but don't like its budgeting any better. Now I use YNAB (You Need a Budget), which is the best budgeting software available, IMHO.

Yeah, we had been using YNAB also and love it. Just had a hard time keeping up with it. It was sort of tedious to input transactions and I've fallen away from it. Of course it might not be so tedious if I also give up my check register so I'm not double entering! I love the envelope system concept.....

flyingwrite · May 2012

Thanks everyone for the responses! Looks like I should climb out of my cave and maybe give it up! I like the idea of an excel spreadsheet, but don't know if I could maintain it.

Thanks for the tips, my boyfriend will be glad to hear he won this debate! lol

If you are diligent enough to maintain a check register, you're diligent enough to maintain an excel spreadsheet. Honestly though, I don't know why you'd need to do either. Check with your bank and look into what online resources they have for budgeting and apps. There are some really good ones out there that will make money management much easier.

It's really not as difficult as it sounds. Once it's set up for the year (takes about an hour at most), then, it takes maybe 1-2 minutes a day to maintain, if that. No spending, no maintenance.

Elizabeth_C34 · May 2012

Thanks everyone for the responses! Looks like I should climb out of my cave and maybe give it up! I like the idea of an excel spreadsheet, but don't know if I could maintain it.

Thanks for the tips, my boyfriend will be glad to hear he won this debate! lol

If you are diligent enough to maintain a check register, you're diligent enough to maintain an excel spreadsheet. Honestly though, I don't know why you'd need to do either. Check with your bank and look into what online resources they have for budgeting and apps. There are some really good ones out there that will make money management much easier.

It's really not as difficult as it sounds. Once it's set up for the year (takes about an hour at most), then, it takes maybe 1-2 minutes a day to maintain, if that. No spending, no maintenance.

I use my debit card constantly, so I doubt it would be a small task for me to maintain a manual spreadsheet of expenses. Plus, everything I charge to my account, I keep track of on my phone app which links directly to my bank account so I can immediate see and review charges without manually entering anything. It even gives me a detailed expense report at the end of the month so I can look ensure that it went as budgeted. I can even dispute them if they come up erroneously right from the app. I've had issues with identity theft like you in the past, but my bank caught it before I did (I was at work at the time and couldn't check it) and resolved it within 24 hours. For my purposes, the idea of manual spreadsheet tracking of expenses seems like a huge waste of time and very inefficient. My husband and I track our investments and trading accounts this way too, and it's great.

There's some great technology out there that makes life easier than doing it all manually these days. It's good to at least know about it.

amymeenieminymo · May 2012

I do, but not in the traditional sense. Up until about a year ago still used the check register but now I use a spreadsheet to keep track of our spending. I do it because we have combined finances and we have different things to spend money on. For example say we have $3000 in our checking account.....well $800 of that might be money I have set aside to pay my car payment each month, 100 might be my husband's overtime money that we try not to spend on bills if we can help it, 500 might be money we are saving for household fixes and 1000 might be money specifically to cover bills, etc.

I can't fathom just having one pot of money and haphazardly spending out of it and not knowing if there is enough money to pay bills. I've never really looked into budgeting software, it may do exactly what I do on the spreadsheet only easier.....I guess I should look into it. I'm lucky that my husband wants no part of handling the finances so I can be as anal and organized as I want.

cabaray · May 2012

I'm an accountant. And I don't keep a check register of any kind.

Me too!

flyingwrite · May 2012

Thanks everyone for the responses! Looks like I should climb out of my cave and maybe give it up! I like the idea of an excel spreadsheet, but don't know if I could maintain it.

Thanks for the tips, my boyfriend will be glad to hear he won this debate! lol

If you are diligent enough to maintain a check register, you're diligent enough to maintain an excel spreadsheet. Honestly though, I don't know why you'd need to do either. Check with your bank and look into what online resources they have for budgeting and apps. There are some really good ones out there that will make money management much easier.

It's really not as difficult as it sounds. Once it's set up for the year (takes about an hour at most), then, it takes maybe 1-2 minutes a day to maintain, if that. No spending, no maintenance.

I use my debit card constantly, so I doubt it would be a small task for me to maintain a manual spreadsheet of expenses. Plus, everything I charge to my account, I keep track of on my phone app which links directly to my bank account so I can immediate see and review charges without manually entering anything. It even gives me a detailed expense report at the end of the month so I can look ensure that it went as budgeted. I can even dispute them if they come up erroneously right from the app. I've had issues with identity theft like you in the past, but my bank caught it before I did (I was at work at the time and couldn't check it) and resolved it within 24 hours. For my purposes, the idea of manual spreadsheet tracking of expenses seems like a huge waste of time and very inefficient. My husband and I track our investments and trading accounts this way too, and it's great.

There's some great technology out there that makes life easier than doing it all manually these days. It's good to at least know about it.

My situation is just different. I don't even have a debit card. As I mentioned, I only make payments out of my actual bank account 3 or 4 times a month at the most. Sounds like the app works well for you!

cabaray · May 2012

My online banking system updates immediately. On the rare occasion I do write a check, I just mentally deduct it until it clears. I pay all of my bills online on the same day. Some get paid early, but never late. I put the bill money into a savings account when I get paid, transfer it to checking at the time I pay the bill and then know that whatever is in checking outside that time frame is spending money. As far as my husband goes, he's screwed if anything happens to me. He doesn't even know the name of our electric company. Half of the bill money direct deposits into my account from his paycheck. He hasn't had to physically pay a bill in the 14 years we have been married.

cabaray · May 2012

Yes, we do have separate accounts but they are in both of our names. It works for us.

So do we. My husband would take $20 here or $40 there and next thing I knew, there was nothing left. He is just the kind of person that can't use a debit card without going broke. His half of the bills deposits into my account, he gets a live check for the rest and handles cash.

Money management question....debate at home!

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