![]() It’s easy for me to think that this or that small expenditure (coffee shops, a trip to the used book store) doesn’t make an impact on my monthly budget.īut, boy, those “little” things add up fast. The same is true if you’ve written a check that hasn’t been cashed yet, as happened with me and my rent.īalancing your checkbook will make you more aware of your spending habits in general. If you’ve written down the transaction in your checkbook, tip included, you don’t have that problem. For example, if you see the transaction from a restaurant, say, it may only show the amount the meal cost and not show the gratuity amount until the payment has cleared. Online banking may seem to be taking place in real-time, but not all transactions are recorded immediately or in full. It’s important to catch any mistakes as soon as possible as there is usually a time limit for reporting such errors. Despite being largely automated and usually error-free, banks can and do occasionally make mistakes. Why balancing your checkbook is importantĪfter paying overdraft fees and nearly emptying my meager savings account to catch up, I reinstated the lost habit of balancing my checkbook every week.īesides saving you from overdraft fees, keeping track of your account balance can help you catch bank errors in time to report them. I was shocked…I really thought I’d done an excellent job of conserving my money. The owners were lax about cashing rental checks and one month I didn’t notice that my rent had not been deducted from my account. I skated along this way for quite a while, chiding myself when the occasional miscalculation left me scrambling for funds at the end of the month. Glancing at my bank balances online and roughly subtracting my remaining bills became my new norm. Later in adulthood, as debit cards, and later, credit cards replaced checks and cash for most of my transactions, and online banking became the norm, I lost the motivation to keep track of my checkbook balance. Gradually my organization and math skills improved and I found fewer and fewer mistakes. When the numbers in my checkbook and the numbers on the bank statement didn’t add up at the end of the month, I could feel the tension set in. Frustration soon set in as I am not the most organized person. Fascinated by the orderly columns of numbers I was excited when I got my first job and my first checking account. I grew up watching my mother balance her checkbook regularly. ![]()
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