STOP IT ALREADY!

I have a few friends and family members who I’ve recently seen balancing their checkbook.  You know who you are.  Like, physically pulling out receipts, jotting down totals in their checkbook register, and busting out the calculator to tally up the totals.  For real?  I thought balancing your checkbook went by the way of the Dewey Decimal system.  Come on people, it’s 2012!  You’ve got to trust in technology.

I’m not saying bury your head in the sand to how much money you spend.  Hello, I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use to stay on top of my monthly bills.  I’m saying God created online banking for a reason and you should be using it.  And if you’re using it, USE it.  Don’t sign up but still spend an hour each night making sure each receipt is reflected online.  Of course it is…it’s technology, it’s smart.  It knows. 

If you like to be more hands on with your money or if you have important assets that need to be managed, then use a program like Quicken.  I recently became reintroduced to Quicken when it was required for a job that I was interviewing for.  Since I hadn’t used it in forever I pulled up a tutorial online the night before and took a crash course.  I didn’t get the job but I can set up and manage a Quicken account like nobody’s business now!  It takes a little time to get a feel for it but once you do you can track spending, monitor ALL of your accounts in one spot, and even set spending goals or limits.  It’s great if you want a more hands on but user-friendly approach to your finances.  Still, if this is the system you choose to use…use it.  Don’t shuffle back and forth between Quicken, online banking, and your checkbook.  Keep it simple.

Whichever method you use, you should always know roughly how much money is in your account and keep an eye on it.  I have a great banking app on my phone (I use TD) that I can check in seconds if I need to.  If anything looks out of line, then that’s when you should take the time to investigate.  Look into pending transactions, recent history, etc. to make sure everything you’ve recently purchased is posted.  Occasionally restaurants make mistakes and double charge or you get charged for a service that was supposed to be free, etc.  We’re human, we make mistakes. 

Technology, though?  Technology doesn’t make mistakes.  So just stop it.