No Need for a Cash Advance if you Properly Balance Your Checkbook

Properly Balance Your Checkbook

There are just as many reasons to balance your checkbook each month as there are opportunities to secure a same day cash advance. I’ll begin by sharing five excellent reasons why you should consider balancing your checkbook.

Five Good Reasons in a Nutshell

1. Mistakes do happen, especially if you forget to post a transaction in your register. These mistakes — or bounced checks — could cost you $25 or more in incurring fees for each “mistake.” I’ll reiterate: bounced checks could cost you $25 + in incurring fees for EACH bounced check. That’s a good enough reason to balance your checkbook, isn’t it?
2. When your records are balanced and in order, you’re more assured that your record’s match the bank’s.
3. Remember that banks are susceptible to mistakes as well, but with their advanced technology, it’s more likely that you’ll make a mathematical error in the register of your checkbook before the bank does.
4. If you do find a problem (or the bank does), you don’t have to forage through months and months of transactions to decipher the issue.
5. Become a consumer minority. Research shows that a whopping 87% of consumers forget to reconcile their checking accounts.

This is How:

Record Everything

The first step is to record everything into your checkbook register: deposits, withdrawals, checks, debits, any charges at all.

Conciliate Your Checks

An important factor of balancing your checkbook is to determine if there are any checks you sent out that haven’t cleared in the bank. In your checkbook register, all you have to do is check off the cancelled checks returned back to you or observe each check that appears on your check listing, just to make sure your records match what the bank shows.

Conciliate Your Deposits

Remember that you have a check register, and it’s not useless. Take note of each deposit that appears on your bank statement, record it as well (direct deposits can easily be forgotten, that’s why record keeping is so vital). It would also help to sift through your paycheck stubs and deposit slips, making sure the statements are correct in documentation of all the deposits you’ve made. The same as you did for your checks, record the deposits in your check register.

Conciliate Your Debit Card Purchases and Withdrawals from the ATM

Following the same steps mentioned in step two, check off each transaction on your bank statement in your check register for debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals. Pay close attention, because if the bank shows exchanges not included in your check register, it’s best to record them instantly.

Note Outstanding Checks

In column two of the balancing form in your checkbook register, record all of your outstanding checks, ATM withdrawals, and debit purchases that have not cleared from the bank yet. Then total up the column of outstanding debits, checks, and ATM withdrawals.

Note Outstanding Deposits

Next, total the column of outstanding deposits in your checkbook register, in column one of the balancing form. Remember that the deposits not checked off in your check register as having been cleared by the bank are to be listed.

Register Your Bank’s Ending Balance

Enter the ending balance shown on your bank statement on line one of the bottom section on your checkbook balancing form.

Enter Outstanding Checks

Enter the total outstanding checks from column two on line three of the bottom section on your checkbook balancing form.

Enter Outstanding Deposits

Enter the total outstanding deposits from column one onto line two of the bottom section on your checkbook balancing form.

Calculate Your Balance

Finally, use a calculator to add up the numbers from line one through three (indicated by plus and minus signs on the form) and write down your total on line four. If you’ve performed everything correctly, this should equal the balance shown in your checkbook register. If not, don’t fret, just go back and check the math entered. Make sure there are no reversed numbers anywhere, like $76 instead of $67. Also, try and look for mistakes such as subtracting a deposit rather than adding it, inserting a check written instead of subtracting it and other blunders such as forgetting about automatic payments you’ve set up… or forgetting to document that cash advance that you needed on that rainy day and so will be coming out of your account on the next payday.