I did wonder about listing balancing my checkbook as one of my hobbies. But it seems reasonable considering how much I adore keeping track of money.
Doesn't everyone feel a little more lighthearted when they open their mailbox and see that their monthly bank statement has arrived? Doesn't everyone take the first available opportunity to rush to their computers and open up Quickbooks? Doesn't everyone enjoy painstakingly entering every single transaction involving cash or credit or a check into their accounting program? Doesn't everyone get the same thrill, that rush of satisfaction, that splendiferous glow of success, when, after checking off that last transaction on the statement, the bottom line of the reconciliation reads "$0.00 difference"?
No?
Well.
I do.
.
10 comments:
Everytime I ever attempted to use Quickbooks or Money or any such softtware, I always royally messed up my book.
And yes, I like balancing my book, too. I just can't help it.
Ooooh, please come to my house!
I do know that thrill you are talking about, but everytime I try I am so good for a bit and then rapidly lose interest (ha ha, no pun intended...but it makes me chuckle).
I recently entered and reconciled (in Microsoft Money) almost two years of bank statements. I'm still off by about 15 cents between what my checkbook says, what the program says, and what the bank says. Go fig.
And I am supposed to be the Evil one?
I have never balanced my checkbook. In fact, we hardly even use checks anymore, we use online banking for 99% of our bills. My husband takes care of most of the finances. He's got to have some kind of responsibility around here!
my wife gets so excited when the statements come in.
personally - I would rather automate as much of it as possible...for example - why are you (and my wife) still entered numbers off paper statements. how archaic!
get the download. better - get the download to happen using a scheduled task that runs on its own once a month. then have a script run to reconcile your balances. once that's done it can spawn an email .....
No. No. No.
But...
At the same I can tell you that I just started to learn Quickbooks since I will be taking over the books at our build company, and I have to say, I am actually really really enjoying it.
Did I just say that?
Kathy does our books, and though I know enough to stay out of the house during check writing season, I'm sure the bank statement sets her heart strings aflutter in a way that I cannot. I'm not jealous, though, just glad that someone in the house has the sense to figure that stuff out. As long as I get my allowance, I'm fine.
We use Quicken but I was always really bad about downloading and reconciling the transactions. And, since we had Quicken, I never opened paper statements. Last year, it was six months before I realized our tax refund check had been direct deposited into our account. During our move to Ireland, my husband took over the accounting and he suddenly "got it" - we're now sharing responsibility for budgeting and accounting and he's way more sensitive to spending money than he used to be. Funny, I never wanted to give up control because I thought he'd mess it up because of his attitude toward money but giving him more reponsibilities changed his attitude and made him more careful with money. If only I'd known this eight years ago! :)
I have not opened my bank statements in aeons. My bank manager told me once that in these days of debit cards, it's best to go online every few days and reconcile. So I get the almost DAILY satisfaction of balancing!
Oh, I'm right there with ya :)
My hubby is kind of anal about everything being entered and split between acurate categories - but we know where every single penny of our money goes and where we are on any given day in our financial goals. I really value this about him :)
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