# Do you balance your checking account? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2022, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693 "2022-04-11T23:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/1 "2022-04-11T23:32:48Z")
I’m just wondering if it’s still a thing people do. I know that I haven’t in 20 years. How often do you balance your checking account? _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/1))_ ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/2 "2022-04-11T23:35:46Z")
Essentially never. I scan the bank page/app every few days to make sure nothing looks out of line and to ask my wife about any weird charges and make sure they’re legit but that’s as close as it gets. I should add that we never write checks. I probably write six checks a year: four quarterly water bill payments to the property association (who don’t accept electronic for whatever reason) and figure another two misc checks for my kid needing $10 for a field trip and I don’t have cash on me. So there’s very few floating, unresolved payments ever out there. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/3 "2022-04-11T23:37:11Z")
I do so when I get the monthly statement but I only have three or four deposits or withdrawals each month, so it’s fairly easy. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/4 "2022-04-11T23:37:28Z")
Three factors are in play for us. 1. I can view the account on line anytime and see if something doesn’t look right 2. We write much fewer checks so if there’s something significant outstanding, we’ll remember it. 3. We have more money than we used to, and we don’t dip to dangerous levels where a floating check would put us underwater. I certainly remember balancing my checkbook. I’d put $xx in, and subtract each check as I wrote it, showing how much remained. But that became unworkable with widespread use of debit cards, electronic bill pay, on-line shopping, and all kinds of transfers. I do log into my account almost every day for one reason or another, and make sure nothing funny is going on. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/5 "2022-04-11T23:40:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > but I only have three or four deposits or withdrawals each month, so it’s fairly easy. This made me curious, so I went on line to check. Our primary checking account has had 71 transactions in the first 11 days of this month. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/6 "2022-04-11T23:43:38Z")
Do you a credit card or a debit card? I could understand that much traffic if you’re using a debit card for everything. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/7 "2022-04-11T23:49:25Z")
I got my first checking account right before I started college in 1998. I don’t think I ever balanced my account in the way my parents did, by writing the amount of every check written in that little ledger, and subtracting the amount from the current balance. For a while I had a spreadsheet that basically did the same thing, but I stopped bothering with that a long time ago when I realize I can just check my balance online, and that amount will be up to date since debit transactions and even actual checks get posted immediately. ETA: and 100% of the time when my spreadsheet didn’t match my balance in online banking, it was due to a data entry error in my spreadsheet, or a transaction I forgot to enter. I was getting sick of tracking down the errors in my spreadsheet. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/8 "2022-04-11T23:49:30Z")
When I was a starving student in grad school, I religiously tracked my checking account and balanced my checkbook, as well as categorizing all my expenses and making sure I wasn’t spending so much early in the month that at the end of the month I couldn’t pay the must-pay bills. Then I graduated and my salary went of a factor of 4 and my lifestyle only went up maybe a factor of 2. I balanced my checkbook for while, but it became obvious that there was no way I could reach the can’t pay the must-pays state, so I just stopped. Now I keep track of what needs to be paid and confirm that I actually paid each month (by whatever means, check, transfer, credit card, etc.) but don’t keep track of exactly how much I paid. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/9 "2022-04-11T23:51:23Z")
To the penny! Every month! Builds character! ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/10 "2022-04-11T23:52:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Do you a credit card or a debit card? I could understand that much traffic if you’re using a debit card for everything. We don’t use the debit card for everything, but we do use it a lot. It appears to be the majority of transactions, followed by bill pay, and then transfers (kids!) Only a few deposits ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/11 "2022-04-12T00:00:20Z")
Once a month. But mostly to track transactions, make sure the checks,. etc have gone through, nothing weird has shown up. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/12 "2022-04-12T00:08:16Z")
I do, each month after the monthly statement is released. But I use Quicken, which essentially does all the work for me. I download the transactions from my bank a couple of times a month. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/13 "2022-04-12T00:11:09Z")
I do use my debit card all the time and have automatic payments and transfers set up, which is why our checking account already has more than 40 transactions already this month. But I can’t figure out how you have three or four deposits or withdrawals per month. Even in the days before debit cards , I still would have had more than three or four transactions a month - unless you aren’t including paper checks or automatic payments when you say "three or four deposits or withdrawals’ - but if you are going to balance and reconcile your checkbook, those transactions count. I’ve haven’t actually balanced or reconciled my checkbook in at least 20 years. I keep enough of a cushion in my checking account and have overdraft protection so that I’m not worried about bouncing checks and I just keep a list of checks I wrote and cross them off when they clear, so I’m not surprised about a niece or nephew cashing a birthday check six months later. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/14 "2022-04-12T00:23:51Z")
When I was younger, I did things like this religiously. Now that I’m older, I’m much less obsessive about many things, including balancing my checking account. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/15 "2022-04-12T00:27:55Z")
I balance my checking account every month, to the penny. Even though I probably don’t have to: I keep a sufficient balance so I never worry about being overdrawn. Nevertheless I would feel uncomfortable not to do it. I do write a few checks a month, for services that don’t accept credit cards or electronic payments. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/16 "2022-04-12T00:30:49Z")
I do not, ever. I use my debit card for literally everything, with the exception of my house payment. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/17 "2022-04-12T05:40:44Z")
We balance everything. Like most others, we don’t write very many cheques, but we reconcile them, debit POS and credit card receipts to bank and credit card statements monthly. IMHO, many people (particularly the younger ones) have become too trusting of the electronic world as we do find discrepancies from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/18 "2022-04-12T06:05:06Z")
Other: checks are not a thing in Europe. Everything is done electronically. Even a large person to person payment is done via transfer app. Nothing to balance other than watching payments post. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/19 "2022-04-12T06:08:09Z")
What exactly does the OP mean by “balance the account”? If you mean you have an account that uses real paper checks and you go through a process where you keep a running talley on the stub of your check book and match it against your bank balance periodically, then no, I don’t. I haven’t had a check book for over 20 years. If you mean reconcile the bank account with some other record of transactions, then yes I do. I use a budgeting app and manually enter all of my transactions from my accounts categorised to my various spending categories. Every now and then, usually once a week, I make sure my budget app transactions match my bank transactions. If it is out by even $0.01 I will track down the error. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2022, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693/20 "2022-04-12T07:40:37Z")
Prior to online banking, I’d balance it to the penny with every statement. Now, I simply review the debits/credits. With credit cards, I set up alerts with each company to receive an email for all charges over $1.00 which I usually receive within minutes of the transaction. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-balance-your-checking-account/962693.md?page=2)