I have an excel file. Every year I budget income and expenses and then fill in actuals as I go. Every time I log into my bank account, I reconcile to the penny.

I do the same for our PTA and the other activities I manage.

Anonymous wrote:People still use checks?

Cleaning lady, plumber, HVAC repair, any other handyman that comes to the house, school field trips, birthday gifts for my older nieces/nephews who just want cash but we don't live near....

I easily write 3-5 checks a week between just school and the cleaning lady.

That said, like another poster, I keep a large buffer in our account and check it frequently online. Otherwise, I haven't balanced a check book since the late 90s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People still use checks?

The school seems to require 5 checks a month for this thing or the other.

P.S. You think you're cute with your little one-liner, but it makes you out to be a clueless idiot.

Agree with the idiotic point. My DH says this, and it's not funny to me, at the grocery store every time we are behind someone paying by check. I always answer, apparently so.

"People still write checks?"

Do you not have a kid or own a home? In the last month I've written checks to my lawn guy, gutter guy, handyman, HVAC guy, massage therapist, child's therapist and music teacher - all small business people who prefer payments by check to keep down costs (which translates to lower prices to me).

I use visa for most purchases and electronic funds transfer for recurring expenses like the utility. Except Fairfax Water which adds on hefty surcharge, I pay by check... even after cost of a stamp, I still come out ahead. Check is also more convenient for certain transactions like paying the lawn guy, school fees and child's tutor.

I monitor my account through out the month so I don't have wait to do it all at once at month end. I verify the amount on paper receipts against visa online. I keep a sufficient balance in checking account to cover checks and electronic transfers. Payoff visa every month. At end of month, I download it onto spreadsheet and save it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also still use paper ledger. I prefer it.

+1 & my checkbook is always balanced to the penny.

+2 Hard to break the habit. Wells made a mistake on my account a few years back and it was the only way I could have caught it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't keep track. I just always keep a 5k cushion in the account. I don't have that many things that I pay out of checking.

Pretty much this. There's no way that normal monthly expenses could drain my account given what I keep in it, so I just check my bank's app once a week to make sure I recognize all the charges, and otherwise I don't worry about it.

With all the direct debits and debit card transactions, its far more complicated to keep track off expenses. It's not like in the old days when the only way money came out was when you wrote a check.

We just review statements at end of month, just like with credit card.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Used a ledger for years while building an emergency fund. I could put in bumpers of money to pad the fund. Now we just use our bank online. All of our accounts are there and everything posts immediately. I like it.

OP here: I check online almost daily, but things rarely post immediately, hence my need for the ledger. I use M&T Bank.

Really ? You need a different bank. All my transactions post the moment I use my card. I can tell you where my husband is if he's using his card, my transfers between accounts show immediately. I can't remember the last time I wrote a check.

If I did still write checks and had to keep track then I confess to being old school and writing it down but I use my debit for everything.

I don't really keep track as checks are being paid out of the account. It's a savings/checking account. I know there is enough money in there to cover all expenses. I do reconcile at the end of the month.

Anonymous wrote:I don't keep track. I just always keep a 5k cushion in the account. I don't have that many things that I pay out of checking.

Pretty much this. There's no way that normal monthly expenses could drain my account given what I keep in it, so I just check my bank's app once a week to make sure I recognize all the charges, and otherwise I don't worry about it.

Anonymous wrote:People still use checks?

The school seems to require 5 checks a month for this thing or the other.

P.S. You think you're cute with your little one-liner, but it makes you out to be a clueless idiot.

YNAB. Used to use Quicken

Quattro Pro or Excel. Formulas are really easy in both (to debit/credit new expenses), and it's also easy to copy/paste recurring expenses.

Excel spreadsheet. I write very few checks and use it to keep tabs on the auto payments I have coming up. I do not use a debit card - I charge most regular things (gas, groceries, etc) and pay it off in full each month since it's almost always the same.

I track it all on YNAB.