How much do you keep in your checking account?

[Anonymous]

About $5,000. I use my credit card for everything and pay it in full each month so I like to keep enough for that plus anything that it coming out for automatic withdrawals (a few bills, mortgage, etc.)

[Anonymous]

I don't have a set baseline - it could be anywhere from a few hundred to 8K, depending on timing of money going in and out. It is attached to a savings account where I keep my short term savings (currently almost 4K, but I'd like to get it above 5K). So if I'm ever in an overdraft situation money would automatically be moved from my savings to cover, without any fees.

[Anonymous]

Overdrawn currently. Thank God for overdraft protection.

[Anonymous]

As little as possible, since interest is crap. My "zero" is $1500 though. I get paid on the last day of the month, so I set all bills to be paid the beginning of the next month, including "paying myself" (i.e. transfer to interest bearing accounts). Then I just keep what is needed for groceries, etc for the rest of the month. If I need more for any reason I just transfer more back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We only keep about $1K in there as a baseline "cushion", but the balance fluctuates by as much as $20K depending on where we are in the monthly cycle of income and outgo. I have a percentage of my paycheck put directly into a savings account each pay period, too.

This, plus an overdraft link to a savings account. I have my own separate checking account that i let get down to under $50, but I know when the the autopay comes out of there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anywhere from $10-50k. Just dipped below $10k today because I paid my DCs college tuition for the fall semester. I used to move more between checking and savings but stopped bothering when interest became meaningless.

We keep $30, and when it dips below, my DH freaks. I just don't understand keeping that much in a checking acct., but I'm not the money person. We have additional accts.

[Anonymous]

Anywhere from a few hundred to a $10k depending on where we are in the monthly cycle. It's directly linked to a small savings account where we keep $2-3k as backup. The rest of our liquid money is in online savings accounts that get marginally higher interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anywhere from $10-50k. Just dipped below $10k today because I paid my DCs college tuition for the fall semester. I used to move more between checking and savings but stopped bothering when interest became meaningless.

This. We have interest checking too.

[Anonymous]

We don't have a minimum balance either. We keep only what we need for bills and everything else is in savings. The lowest we've gone is like $20.0, right before payday.

[Anonymous]

Once bills and food are paid we have very little left (less then 100, often more like 50).

We have some money in savings though. We don't typically keep money for future expenses or emergencies in checking accounts.

Fortunately our bank doesn't fine us for not keeping a minimum balance. We can't afford that.

[Anonymous]

I keep anywhere from $200-$2000 depending on where I am in the bill cycle of the month. My husband keeps much more in his, but I don't really know how much. We don't don't have credit cards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once bills and food are paid we have very little left (less then 100, often more like 50).

We have some money in savings though. We don't typically keep money for future expenses or emergencies in checking accounts.

Fortunately our bank doesn't fine us for not keeping a minimum balance. We can't afford that.

Can you share which bank? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As little as possible, since interest is crap. My "zero" is $1500 though. I get paid on the last day of the month, so I set all bills to be paid the beginning of the next month, including "paying myself" (i.e. transfer to interest bearing accounts). Then I just keep what is needed for groceries, etc for the rest of the month. If I need more for any reason I just transfer more back.

Why is my husband on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once bills and food are paid we have very little left (less then 100, often more like 50).

We have some money in savings though. We don't typically keep money for future expenses or emergencies in checking accounts.

Fortunately our bank doesn't fine us for not keeping a minimum balance. We can't afford that.

Can you share which bank? Thanks.

USAA

[Anonymous]

Usually a few hundred. I pay a few bills out of checking but other than that I use a credit card for everything. I pay it off every month.