You just need to be willing to take a small amount of time on a regular basis - once a week or once a month, perhaps - to track the amount of money going into and coming out of your checking account.Īlso, check out our Checking Smart Guide for additional tips.
Remember, you don't have to be an accountant to balance your checkbook. When balancing your checkbook, make sure to account for these deposits, too. Deposits made through PayPal usually take several days to actually get into your checking account. For instance, a client may have sent you $500 through PayPal. You'll need to do the same if you've made deposits to your checking account that haven't yet been credited to your account. But you'll need to subtract that $500 preschool payment from this balance to have an accurate record of where you stand financially. For instance, if you mailed a check to your daughter's preschool for $500, and the school hasn't yet cashed it, you'll need to note this when balancing your checkbook. Next, you need to check your checkbook ledger to determine which of your payments haven't yet cleared. If you don't have access to digital banking, you may have to wait a bit longer until your statement arrives in the mail. This is simple if you have eStatements within online or mobile banking. View your monthly bank statementīefore balancing your checkbook, you'll need access to your most recent bank statement. You need to know exactly how much money remains in your checking account if you hope to balance it. As soon as possible after making these transactions, write down the amounts in your checkbook ledger. This means that you must keep track of every time you use your debit card to fill up your gas tank, write a check or withdraw $20 in spending money from the local ATM. Be a good record keeperīalancing your checkbook all starts with keeping good records. In fact, with some basic bookkeeping abilities, you can quickly and accurately balance your checkbook to make sure that you never accidentally overdraw your account.
Balancing your checkbook isn't as bad a task as it seems.
Then, format the column headings so that they are bold and easy to read, and adjust the cell formatting to account for currency and dates. That can lead to bounced checks and the fees that come with them.ĭon't fear, though. To create a simple checkbook register with Microsoft Excel, open a blank spreadsheet and create column labels that would be in a paper register, like Date, Check Number, and Payee. But what if you've forgotten about a check you wrote and it hasn't been cashed yet? You might mistakenly think you have more money in your account than you really have. Yes, you can check your balances online if you're a fan of digital banking. This doesn't mean, though, that it's not important to balance your checkbook on a regular basis. And with digital banking now so popular, it's easy for most consumers to quickly check their balances online. After all, balancing a checkbook is no one's idea of a good time. It's tempting when you pay so many of your bills online to skip on balancing your checkbook.
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