Does anyone actually balance their checkbook anymore?

[Lans Holman]

I was talking with my mother-in-law yesterday and she was horrified that I don't personally balance our checkbook.  I'm on Mint and my bank's website probably twice a week categorizing transactions and tracking different things, so I know nothing's going out that shouldn't be, so I don't really see the benefits.  I also can't even imagine what a hassle it would be to balance the checkbook with pencil and paper given that we are also using two debit cards linked to it.  Does anyone here still do it?  I understand that a lot of people grew up with this as an ingrained habit and it made a lot of sense at the time but is there any usefulness to it at this time that I'm not seeing?

[Spork]

We do.  To the penny.

We use gnucash... and I'm a bit of a computer security paranoid (because, well, that's my job).  I don't do anything automatically (though I will manually log in and pull the transactions in csv or similar format for import).

But we also go further than that.... If we buy $100 worth of stuff at the grocery store, we actually go through and break it down for what it actually is: $80 of food, $10 household products, $8 tax, etc.

I've found if I don't "touch it" every week or so, I lose touch with spending/income.

[anastrophe]

Are you asking if people track their spending? If so, then yes, I'd say most of us do, as Spork points out. Anyone who uses an app or spreadsheet is doing the modern version of "balancing their checkbook." If you're asking if anyone sits down with their checkbook register specifically, eh, that would give you an incomplete picture as checks are not the only way that outflows occur.

[geekette]

I write about three checks a year and don't use a debit card, so no, I don't balance it. Virtually everything's done via credit card, so I keep Quicken balanced to the penny, if that counts.

[Spork]

yeah my "checkbook register" is gnucash.  We have the paper checkbook register attached to the checkbook... but that is effectively a scratch pad for writing stuff down in gnucash later.

[sdp]

I never write anything in my checkbook, as almost every transaction is an automatic bill or a debit transaction at the grocery or somewhere so it wouldn't help me any.  I do however, balance and reconcile my accounts on the computer after every day that there are transactions.  I pretty much know to the penny how much is in every account at all times.  The idea with 'balancing the checkbook' is to reconcile an 'up to date' balance so you did not have to wait until your monthly statement arrived in the mail, that system is obsolete now.
  My wife, however, does still 'balance her checkbook'  she likes to write it all down and do the math and have it with her if she ever needs to use the account, then again she doesn't religiously get online and update our quicken accounts like I do, so there is benefit to her that would not help me.  I'm glad she does it, even if it appears tedious to me, it helps her and the more involved in her finances she is, the better.
Cheers,
Scott

[smalllife]

I record all hand written checks in my check book register, but my balancing is done online and via YNAB. 

[Jamesqf]

Depends on what you mean by 'balance'.  I do write down every checking account transaction (even though virtually none of them are actual checks) and keep a running total, which gets compared to the credit union's total every now & then.  Because mistakes do happen: just last month I scheduled my mortgage payment on-line, only to discover that they'd lost all record of it.

Of course I don't use a debit card - what's the point, when a credit card will get me 1-5% back, plus anywhere from a month to a year or more 0% interest.

[gooki]

No cheque book balancing here. And no tracking of spending. Just a quick glance at the transactions every once in a while to see if there are any suspicious charges.

[freeedom]

No. It's unnecessary. I just keep track of it through mint. I keep enough money in there it's not an issue.

[rufflina]

I track my spending with YNAB which is useful for comparing the actual balance vs what it will be when everyone actually cashes their checks, which is the more useful number.

[infogoon]

I balance my checkbook every week or two when I sit down and pay the household bills. I think I'm the only person I know who does that. Then again, I'm also the only person I know who still wears a wristwatch. Maybe I'm just an old soul.

[Frankies Girl]

I still do - down to the penny every week. I pay most bills online, but still write about 5 checks a year (as I'm not paying out money for the online option and some places still charge a convenience fee to do so) and I do like being able to pull out the checkbook and making sure it is exactly in line with the online statement.

[krenwren]

Again, I don't have a checkbook but I do track all my expenses in YNAB and am trying to right my financial ship by spending my "categories" instead of my bank balance. I check balance the ledger pretty much everyday.  A little obsessive but it's been very helpful to keep us on budget.

[MKinVA]

Isn't it funny that people say they go on their electronic spending tracker of whatever configuration a couple of times a week, or log in what they spend everyday, but those who are balancing their checkbooks a couple of times a month are viewed as compulsive or time wasters....hmmm.....

[anastrophe]

Isn't it funny that people say they go on their electronic spending tracker of whatever configuration a couple of times a week, or log in what they spend everyday, but those who are balancing their checkbooks a couple of times a month are viewed as compulsive or time wasters....hmmm.....

Who said that?

[pdxcyn]

No, I haven't balanced my checkbook in years. I just keep the balance around $5K which is way more than enough to cover any debits I have. I rarely use my debit card so there is not a lot of transactions. I set up an email notification for any transaction exceeding $100. I check the activity online at least once a month when I'm doing my end of the month accounting, but otherwise don't worry about it much.

[Lans Holman]

Isn't it funny that people say they go on their electronic spending tracker of whatever configuration a couple of times a week, or log in what they spend everyday, but those who are balancing their checkbooks a couple of times a month are viewed as compulsive or time wasters....hmmm.....

Yeah, I didn't mean this as a criticism of people who do it.  I understand why it was a good habit at one time and that a lot of people have stuck with it.  But someone was criticizing me for not doing it and I wanted to be sure there wasn't some advantage that I wasn't thinking of to the pencil and paper version over the various electronic versions.  So far I haven't heard any, but that doesn't mean people who still like to do it that way shouldn't.

[Longwaytogo]

Unfourtunatley we are still new to the Mustachian way and are pretty much paycheck to paycheck. So yes we still do the old fashioned balancing. This year I have reached payoff plans with my credit card companies which nessecitated the accounts to be closed to new use. So we have a looooot of debit card transactions which is a pain to keep track of.

[olivia]

I don't use a paper checkbook register, but I use the YNAB app as my register and I enter every transaction in it, usually at the same time I spend the $.  I love to obsessively check Mint, YNAB and my bank account to make sure everything matches and is accounted for.  I will completely forget certain transactions so I like to stay on top of it so I'm not freaking out about what that one $8.72 transaction is. 

[oldtoyota]

We don't. We stopped when we had a baby and never started again. Now, it's all online so I do not see the point. I'm in the accounts every few days to keep track of it all.

[ender]

I was actually thinking the other day if my bank was slowly taking $1 a month or even considerably more, whether from my account or making my credit card statements incorrect, I'd never notice.

I never "balance" in the sense of checking starting balance, transactions, and final balance. For all I know my bank could be making tons of money off me. This is... rather disconcerting to be honest :)

[Debbie M]

For me, the big advantage is that the pen and pencil version can survive heavy rains.

I balance my checking account and my two credit card accounts as well, all in one check book register.  I use one column for things that affect my checking account, one for one of my credit cards, and part of one for my other credit cards.  Then I use part of the last column for my total balance.  (The checking account balance is positive and the credit card balances are usually negative.)

I check each of these accounts online about twice a month.  This way I can see what's gone through and keep an eye on whether anything fishy is going on with my accounts.

I used to use an electronic spreadsheet on a personal device (before my Revo broke for good; stupid flash flooding soaking through my backpack), and I don't really like the new personal electronic devices because they are focused on other people's data rather than my data, and I don't really like how other people (e.g., Mint) organize the data or what a pain it is to enter my own data.  (Also, modern devices are still not impervious to rain.)

I also keep track of my spending and budgeting on a spreadsheet (on a laptop) since I'm in semi-retirement until my pension kicks in and this helps me psychologically keep my spending down.

I do have a big enough buffer that I don't really have to worry about cash flow, but I'm not a winging-it sort of person.  Or at least I feel better winging it in some areas when I have stability in others.

So I'm sort of like a cross between an old person who hates newfangled inventions, a rebel who refuses to fit in a box, and a control-freak nerd who goes a bit overboard.  Works for me!

[Spork]

For me, the big advantage is that the pen and pencil version can survive heavy rains.

The real advantage of the pen/pencil is that it is double entry bookkeeping.  If you just click to download the bank's transactions, of course the register will balance.  That is like asking "does X=X?"

[iamlindoro]

I used to use an electronic spreadsheet on a personal device (before my Revo broke for good; stupid flash flooding soaking through my backpack), and I don't really like the new personal electronic devices because they are focused on other people's data rather than my data, and I don't really like how other people (e.g., Mint) organize the data or what a pain it is to enter my own data.  (Also, modern devices are still not impervious to rain.)

For those who worry about this, Dropbox and strong encryption are more than enough to keep the files in sync across multiple locations and devices while making the theft of data so impractical as to be basically impossible.

[Charlotte]

Quicken is my checkbook. Actually, that's all Quicken is for me (still using 2000). I use it to track our checking, savings, and regularly used credit cards. And yes, I balance it every month against the statement.

I use spreadsheets for everything else.

[Luck better Skill]

  I balance my checkbook with pen and paper.  It is my rule of thumb budgeting since I was a wee lad, (teenager).  It gives me a quick review of where my spending was/is.  The system has served me well over the years to keep out of financial trouble.
  There is a second psychological part also.  As a young person I struggled to pay my bills.  Being able to pay bills when they arrive is great stress reduction, feeling of accomplishment, and feeling mature.  As MMM would say, "It is taking control of my life." 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Once a month in YNAB I make sure I have entered in all of my transactions for the month and make sure my cleared balance in YNAB matches what the bank says.

[CanuckExpat]

I had someone mention something to me in passing about balancing her checkbook after she wrote me a check.. I had to look up what balancing a checkbook actually was. I just assumed it was something previous generations did that went out of style with travel agents, book stores, and newspapers..

[NinetyFour]

I still do, down to the penny, every few days.  I check it (and balance it) frequently--mostly so that I don't do stupid things like forget that a utility payment is going to be automatically deducted.  Also I have recently moved most of my excess cash to my Capitol One account.  Thus, in my local bank accounts, there is now very little buffer--not much room for error!

[BlueMR2]

I balance mine every payday.

[MrsPete]

No, I don't balance my checkbook because after years and years, my husband and I have a sixth-sense about money and how we're doing.  Balancing just isn't a problem. 

However, I've helped each of my children open a checkbook (and debit card) as high school seniors, and I've been obsessive about guiding them through year's worth of balancing.  As a result, my college kid has had no problems keeping her money in check.

[cbgg]

Being young (ish) I don't even 100% understand what that means.  I guess it's a cashflow thing - to see if you've written any cheques that haven't been cashed yet and ensure you keep enough money on hand?

I usually write 1 cheque per month (rent - it's cashed promptly) plus I always keep a good float in my chequeing, so balancing is moot.  I track my spending carefully and always review my bank statements in detail to catch any problems (actually, I"m doing that today!), but I don't write enough cheques to make that useful.

[FIence!]

I do, and I was reminded of why this morning. I logged into my online banking to verify that a transaction had gone through, and immediately noticed it was $20 off. I called the bank customer service, and said I had not (to use another antiquated term) "written a check" for $20 during the time period in question. The response went like this, verbatim:
"Well it doesn't necessarily have to be a check, just a debit... it looks like you made a withdrawal at a branch... actually... hold on... it looks like that is actually an error. Your account will be credited by the end of the day."

My husband's former method of "balancing" his checkbook was to rely on what the online statement said. If I did that, I'd be out $20 today. This is not the first time I've noticed amounts that I suspect I might miss if I didn't always do the math by hand. (Other examples: a gas station transaction was once $40 more because of the "temporary" authorization hold that never went away, and an automatic payment was once double-paid by the bank.) For me, there is so little work involved in writing everything down and using a calculator, that I just see it as insurance against instances like these.

[Zaga]

I enter everything manually into YNAB, and reconcile the balance of all of my accounts (checking, savings, HSA, student loan, Roth's, 401-K's, IRA) at least once a month.  This is not "balancing the checkbook" on paper, but it is reconciling what I say I have and what the banks say I have.  This is very important IMO to catch fraud and errors.  Remember, people who work at the bank are people too, and can make mistakes.  I'm not okay with trusting someone else with my money without double checking them.

[willn]

Being young (ish) I don't even 100% understand what that means.  I guess it's a cashflow thing - to see if you've written any cheques that haven't been cashed yet and ensure you keep enough money on hand?

I usually write 1 cheque per month (rent - it's cashed promptly) plus I always keep a good float in my chequeing, so balancing is moot.  I track my spending carefully and always review my bank statements in detail to catch any problems (actually, I"m doing that today!), but I don't write enough checks to make that useful.

Correct. I think technically the term is to "reconcile" your account.

Back in the day, checks might not clear your account for weeks if someone took their time depositing it, and people wrote a lot more checks because both credit and debit card use much less common, so reconciling the account was very important for a busy household.  Both to know what your actual balance would be once all transactions cleared your account, and to watch for bank mistakes.

If like me you write five checks a year, debit card everything else, and check your online account regularly, and the transactions are reflected almost immediately in your online view, such reconciliation isn't necessary, but understanding the math of it helps you keep an accurate impression of your current cash flow.   

[RootofGood]

I use a google docs spreadsheet and balance it 1x a month when the statement arrives.  I keep just enough in the account to fund the checks/auto-pays that are coming up soon (plus a couple hundred $$ extra for my debit card if I shop at a no credit card store). 

It takes maybe 5 minutes and ensures no one is stealing my money, and there aren't unexpected charges or fees, or bank errors. 

[hybrid]

Nope, no real benefit for me.  I already have my spending under control, and I check our transactions at least once a week to make sure nothing out of the ordinary occurred (years ago someone used our credit card number several states away to buy $70 of crap at Lowes, have no idea if that was theft or a SNAFU, but the only way I would have noticed before getting my statement was to check online).

I get the reasons why some people do it but I will also say it also seems just a bit compulsive to me know what the balance is to the penny at any given moment.  Surely there is some lost time involved keeping such meticulous records, and that has its own cost.

[JessieImproved]

Mint.com does all the balancing I care to do.  Before that, the most I did was check my account balance and periodically scan the transactions.

[Dicey]

I never balance my paper checkbook, as I don't have one.

I charge everything, and use duplicate checks for what little can't be charged. I only use my ATM/Debit Card at Winco and the bank's ATM, twice a month at most.  I do go online regularly to pay bills and I scrutinize every transaction. Once you've established healthy spending habits, all that is important is to make sure the bank doesn't screw up. Last year, I sent someone a $25 check. The bank withdrew $25.20 from my account. I made three in-person bank visits to get it fixed. Frustrating, but the small stuff does matter. My point is that you don't have to sit down and agonize over balancing, as long as you have spending habits in order and you watch your account vigilantly.

[Melody]

I'm 24 - I had to learn to balance one for a job. Other than that I wouldn't even know how to. I've had internet banking/debit cards since I had my first job at 14. Before that I had a savings account - from age 10. If I wanted to take money out (which was rare), I went to the bank and the nice lady wrote the remaining balance on a slip for me :) Every three months a statement came in the mail. (As an aside there is much to be said for teaching your child to save early - because here I am now.)