I have a love-hate relationship with my checkbook register. Okay, let’s be really honest – I have a hate-hate relationship with it. I dislike writing everything down on those tiny little lines, and then not being able to read my own handwriting, and then wondering if that is a 7 or a 1, because if it’s a 7, then it’s a different purchase than the one I made which ended in a 1, and the whole thing won’t reconcile anyway, so what’s the point?
In a fit of pique this morning, I said to my husband, “Why do we even need the checkbook register? Why not just verify everything against the bank’s website once a day and call it good?”
He does math, and he’s calm about it. Yes, opposites do attract. He proceeded to explain that the checkbook register provides another means of balances, and that if the bank’s website were to go down, we’d still have the information we needed. We wouldn’t be flying blind as far as our finances were concerned. In addition, we often make purchases that don’t show up immediately online. Even debits sometimes take a little while, not to mention checks, which might not show up on the site for a week or two weeks, depending on when they are cashed. We don’t want to think we have more money than we really do, and end up bouncing checks because we weren’t careful in our accounting. Far too many people have gotten themselves in trouble by forgetting to notate that one purchase, that one day.
I agree with all this, in theory. But I do have to say that I’m still not loving the fact that I’m staring down a pile of receipts racked up over this last week, and it’s my job to write them all down. Maybe if I grab some chocolate out of my Christmas sock, it will make the experience more pleasant …
Related Blogs:
How Brain Injuries Can Affect Your Money
Basic Financial Education for Kids