I must be missing something in this discussion in terms of understanding what people are doing. Off the top of my head, I probably write 2-3 checks a month, the lawn mowing people only accept checks or cash, ditto the occasional tree work, the utilities charge less for direct withdrawals from the checking account than paying by credit card, property tax is cheaper when paid by check. Of course, I periodically look at the account online to be sure nothing unexpected has shown up, just as I periodically look at my credit card accounts online. I bold face the ones that the credit union hasn't processed yet and unbold face them when it has. I keep a list of checks I've written and direct withdrawals companies will be making and the resultant balances of each transaction. They make me think of people who look at their bank-reported balances to see if they can afford to write a check, completely disregarding the fact that they might have unprocessed checks out there. I really don't understand these balancing checkbook threads. You don't get to a position of great wealth, without paying very close attention to your operating account. Some will say that once you get to a certain net worth, it doesn't matter. I don't think you can go "minimalist" on your operating account. When we make financial decisions, our true balance is a major consideration. We still need to see our "true" balance at any given moment. I agree with many that these "unposted" charges are visible almost immediately, but some are not. So, even though we may not write actual checks, we still need to know our balance and "unposted" charges-all the time. A business has what they call an "operating account" and so that is how I think about it. I treat my checking account like a business. Like many others on this thread, I write almost zero check, but it is really not about that. I adopted an Excel "Check Register" many years ago. Sometimes not the bank's fault but some other entity depositing into the wrong account (and what a headache that proved to be). Thus my ledger serves a planning ahead purpose as well as verifying banking data. Thus I can quickly verify any transaction should some question come up months later, as they sometimes do. With some automated Excel macros it takes me only a couple minutes to reconcile with each month's statement, and the statement date is stamped next to each transaction. A graph shows my expected account balance throughout the year. As each month transpires I "execute" the anticipated transaction with the actual amount, etc. For many years, I have updated the checking account ledger just before the beginning of the year to populate all anticipated transactions for the next year (deposits, regular monthly transactions for all bills, irregular bills, draws for cash and for investments, etc.) Actually, these input transactions are linked back to my annual budget so I have a one-page simple view of all anticipated costs and income. I use an Excel spreadsheet for my account ledgers. I don't really care about the instantaneous account balance. Sure, i can log in at any time and see what transactions have cleared.īut that is not how I use my ledger. I am possibly one of the very few who actually does maintain a check account ledger (and for other accounts as well). We are in a huge push and journey to simplify and Minimalism. Did not find value any longer but we do know our debts, average expenses so we never missed it. Stopped using personal finance software a decade after using for ten years. Technology should make life and processes easier.ĩ. We are questioning because we are literally rewriting or copying what is online. Once a receipt clears online we discard it.Ĩ. We stopped saving receipts on credit card and matching to statement each month over a year ago so this is the next logical step. Would rather spend time doing more minimal things in life.ħ. We have never experienced errors from bank and today’s technology provides a copy of the cashed check.Ħ. For the minimal checks we write, we could simply write that in the register so we know the outstanding items.ĥ. In the age of the internet, apps, and real time information, when logging into the bank it is close to our real time balance as we write minimal checks.ģ. By having everything deducted we know pretty much in real time what’s left.Ģ. We get paid twice and month and believe we can move due dates of bills to coincide with payroll. Do you keep a checkbook register and reconcile each month? We have done this for many many years and are now questioning it for the following reasons:ġ.
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