I’ve mentioned some of my odd quirks before, but another one that seems to be pretty unique is the fact that I balance my checkbook. Most of the people I talk to don’t do it, and only a few of them secretly think it would be worth their while if they could find the time.
I balance my checkbook in a physical transaction register, which I pick up from the bank. When I fill one up, I get a new one from the bank. This didn’t strike me as odd at all until I went to the bank today and asked for a new register. After checking the drawers at her station, the attendant said, “Give me just a moment to find one.” She then proceeded to talk to the other attendants and check upwards of 30 drawers in the area. Finally she came back to me and said “I’ll have to go talk to someone on the floor to get one.”
Ten minutes later, I had a new transaction register. Suddenly I realized - this must not be a very common request at all. For that matter, what is a masters student in HCI doing using pen and paper to keep track of transactions? Of all the errors that I’ve “found” over the 7 years of diligent record keeping, all but one of them have been errors of calculation or mistyping into the computer’s calculator.
I think it’s time I joined the 21st century and started balancing my checkbook using the computer. I hear Quicken is good (my mom swears by it). Any other recommendations out there? Preferably from people who actually balance their checkbooks.
If by “balance my checkbook” you mean, press the check button in quicken, then yes, I balance my checkbook. Quicken is probably your best bet, there are of couse the microsoft (money) and gnu knockoffs, but quicken is the best
I used to balance my checkbook, but then I got a check card and online banking. For a while, I’d keep my receipts when using my check card and then enter them into the register later, but with online banking, why not just verify the correct amount there? Well, it has bitten me in the ass a few times when some gas station waits two months to actually charge my check card for gas I purchased.
If you’ve been ok with using your register, why not just set up a spreadsheet and use that? Same low-tech idea but with automatic calculations. No reason to use a nuke when a shotgun will do.
Thanks Roslanowski. Now can you do it in a polish accent?
zis is easy cake