Perhaps you forgot to record a transaction or you transposed a couple of numbers. So what do you do if your numbers and the bank’s numbers don’t align? That’s when it’s time to backtrack through your records and the bank’s transaction history to see where the discrepancy is. If they match, then you have a balanced checkbook. About once every two weeks (or more often), log on to view your bank account and compare your bank’s total withdrawals and deposits with your own records.As you continue to make transactions, record them in your check register so you have a running tally of your debits, credits and total balance.Don’t forget to account for any fees that you pay and any interest that you earn.You’ll continue doing this until you have recorded all your transactions. For each debit, you’ll subtract the amount of the transaction from your balance.You will write down the date of the transaction and a brief description and, in the case of checks, the check number. This includes debits and credits, as well as any checks you may have written that have not yet been cashed. Record any pending transactions that you know are coming but have not yet cleared.If you’re using a paper checkbook register, you’ll record this number in the top spot above the spaces you use to log your transactions. You can find this information on either your bank’s website or through its mobile app. Look up the “current available balance” in your checking account.
If you have never before balanced your checkbook, you need to start by recording your transactions-starting with your bank balance:
With the statement in hand, you would compare the transactions you had listed by hand in your paper checkbook register with those shown in your bank statement.Īlthough this chore may look a bit different currently than it did our parents’ day, the basics of the job remain the same. It also is easier to identify problems, such as missed automatic payments, incorrectly assessed fees, fraudulent charges and even your own mathematical mistakes, when you have a regularly balanced checkbook.īalancing your checkbook used to be a chore reserved for a specific time each month: after receiving your monthly paper statement from the bank.Keeping a record of your banking transactions can help you track your spending, making budgeting a simpler process.If a vendor charges you the wrong amount for a purchase, you may not otherwise know if you don’t balance your account at least once a month. You also can catch merchant errors more quickly if you reconcile regularly.Though rare, banks do sometimes make mistakes, and regularly balancing your checkbook allows you to catch such errors in a timely fashion.Making sure you recorded checks as you wrote them and reconciled your account with the bank’s statement ensured that you were never caught flat-footed when an old check finally cleared. Back when paper checks were more common, it could take quite some time for any one check to clear.There are several reasons for keeping such a record and balancing it regularly: Why Balance Your Checkbook?Įven today, when much (if not all) of your transaction information is available with the click of a button, it’s still a good idea to maintain a record of your transactions and regularly balance that record.īalancing your checkbook, which is also known as reconciling your account, is basically about making sure that the records you have kept for your financial transactions match those the bank lists on your statement.
#CHECKBOOK HOW TO#
Here’s what you need to know about how to balance a checkbook in a paperless world. But whether you were a master checkbook balancer in the time of paper or are a digital native who didn’t realize paper statements were once a thing, you may not know exactly how to reconcile your accounts. However, even though the paper-and-pencil aspect of checkbook balancing has mostly gone the way of the dodo, the process is still a necessary part of maintaining your checking account. Now that all of your transactions are available immediately via your bank’s online portal or mobile app, you may assume that balancing your checkbook is the kind of skill that’s lost all usefulness, like knowing how to use a pencil to rewind an unraveled cassette tape. Back when receiving paper statements from your bank was the norm rather than an anomaly, taking the time to reconcile your checking account records with your statement each month was an important part of keeping your finances healthy.
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