Yes, I still keep a check register

[mevertsen]

This is my philosophy also. I don't see how you can tell whether you are solvent or not just by looking at the online balance because it doesn't take into account the fact that you have an $1800 mortgage payment coming up in a couple days, or automatic payments for insurance, utilities, etc. My wife and I use debit cards for most purchases so our check register is several pages long every month.

I just use the Google spreadsheet on my phone. Build the budget out and keeps balance. I verify that and add my charges to it as I go. Less paper that way.

 

[Keep on]

The wife and I have always had joint accounts solely, so keeping up on the register let's us both know what's being spent and what is the balance. I'm old school, but I prefer having the register. Have actually gone to 95% online bill pay, but that was probably only in the last 5 years or so.

 

[pwrwgn57]

I still pay several bills by check as the entity I'm paying doesn't have an electronic system for payment. And there are a few bills that I refuse to pay the fee associated with paying with a CC so they still get a check. I keep a register since most of those same entities sit on the check for a month or more before they cash it so I need a way to keep track of that money sitting out there.

 

[JustinsDad]

I dtill write checks every now and then but I pretty mich do banking online like 95% of us. I sure like not balancing the damn checkbook every month. I’m so OCD if I was off by a dollar it would freak me out. I’d recheck and recheck till zi figured it out. Auto pay is s relief.

 

[Mussgrass]

My wife and I still write a lot of checks. We only pay 2 bills auto pay. The rest are checks. I write out my tithe check every week. Once in a while we even write a check for milk or eggs at a farm if we don't have enough cash or they don't have change.

 

[Kiwi]

I was never good at keeping a check register and haven't written a check in 10+ years. And New Zealand ended the use of checks 5 years ago.

 

[MT_Fin]

We don’t possess checks and can’t remember the last time we did. Certainly don’t use a register. I also wouldn’t accept a check from anywhere except a business or similar. I’m surprised anywhere accepts them honestly.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

My mom was an accountant, so she instilled numerous OCD behaviors in us. Check registers was one of them. When my mom passed, we cleaned out the basement, and every bill she ever paid was boxed up and neatly organized, with the date, check # and amount written on the bill. Like 40 years worth!

I’ve now gone to the opposite extreme and have everything I possibly can setup on auto-pay and don’t keep a register since I only write about a dozen checks a year now.

When my Grandmother passes away we will find the same thing and dare I say we will have everything I bet going back to the late 50s at least early 60s.

I kept one in the early 2000s for awhile. Quickly went away from it as tech advanced.

 

[Redmt]

We don’t possess checks and can’t remember the last time we did. Certainly don’t use a register. I also wouldn’t accept a check from anywhere except a business or similar. I’m surprised anywhere accepts them honestly.

We're in a very rural ranching area. Very spotty cell service and certainly no Internet, yet one of the largest family owned ranches survives by writing and receiving checks. They have been doing it since the late 1800's. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the no checks rule actually got implemented.

 

[David58]

We quit maintaining a register when we went pretty much 100% plastic for groceries, gas, etc. (funny part is we use cash when we travel, we spend less that way). Worked fine, until...

Credit Union changed software. All of our billpay went to pieces. Double payments here, no payment there. Cost us about $2K in late fees and overpayments (of course, the overpayments were not losses, but fouled the budget). Wreaked havoc on our credit rating, too.

If my wife had not kept the paper, it would have been a worse mess. That alone showed us that the banking software geniuses, at least here in New Mexico (Schools in 51st place), are not anywhere close to genius.

We retire soon (four more working days till I qualify for group retiree insurance) - intent is to revert to primarily cash and handwritten checks. And, the smart phone is going to become dead, going back to the flip phone.

David
NM

 

[Wildabeest]

That alone showed us that the banking software geniuses, at least here in New Mexico (Schools in 51st place), are not anywhere close to genius.

I hear MT FWP is hiring…

 

[Redmt]

Over-the-top hardcopy dinosaur I am, as not only do I keep a check register, there is also a ledger book detailing monthly major bills paid. When gathering income tax preparation information and other times when needing to review expenditures, that ledger comes in very handy as the info is all in one book.

My wife does exactly the same thing. She also refuses a Smart phone. She has boxes of receipts separated by year. There's nothing like a hard copy instead of relying on a computer to not go FUBAR.

 

[David58]

My wife does exactly the same thing. She also refuses a Smart phone. She has boxes of receipts separated by year. There's nothing like a hard copy instead of relying on a computer to not go FUBAR.

I have experienced FUBAR in regular life, also my work life, where I had dozens of files lost when a server crashed and the idiots in charge had not been doing a redundant backup. And this wasn't a bank messing up my bill pay, my employer is a certain organization in northern New Mexico, made famous by a movie called "Oppenheimer".

David
NM

 

[Richard22]

My dear old mom liked to say, "Watch your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves." Keeping a check register forces you to see every debit and deposit and the impact they have on your balance, not to mention a quick review of all your purchasing decisions.

 

[Tradewind]

My dad was unusual for his age, he did everything financial, electronically on his apple iPhone. This became a problem when he unexpectedly died in his sleep a couple years ago. No passwords, accounts, ect written down. Took several months to sort everything out.

Wife and I use both. Electronic banking and paper checks with a check register.

sorry to hear it

 

[Tradewind]

The accountant insists on the check register. Got caught once when the electronic files disappeared

 

[howl]

The important thing is you do it, whatever it is. I use a spreadsheet instead. If the register is what you can get yourself to do, then it is a the very thing.

 

[RealMuddyboots]

So we use a register. I have alerts set up for everything. So this morning got an alert for a check cashed. The amount was not familiar to myself or wife. Checked receipts. Nope. Then noticed the date for alert. It was mid March! Verified already cashed off account in March! HTH does a bank send out an alert for a check we already received an alert and cashed almost 2 months ago? Yeah, its valid text from bank. So now watching to see if it gets double dipped.

 

[Redmt]

So we use a register. I have alerts set up for everything. So this morning got an alert for a check cashed. The amount was not familiar to myself or wife. Checked receipts. Nope. Then noticed the date for alert. It was mid March! Verified already cashed off account in March! HTH does a bank send out an alert for a check we already received an alert and cashed almost 2 months ago? Yeah, its valid text from bank. So now watching to see if it gets double dipped.

Time for a new bank.

 

[RealMuddyboots]

Time for a new bank.

They have been pissing me off on other things too.