This is really embarrassing :(

Maggie0829

lyndausvi said:

I often pay my credit card bill BEFORE the statement drops.   Say I spent $60 at the grocery store  and I put it on my card.  A week later I will pay off the balance.  Not always, but a lot times I do that.   I do not like spending money now hoping I can pay off the balance next month.  I would just rather use the card for points and pay off the balance as soon as I can.

Sometimes when I go to pay my credit card bill I pay the statement balance plus, if I have extra funds that month, I will pay a bit more, especially if I had just bought airline tickets or something else that is a bit larger in cost. That way the next bill won't be as high and more easily managed

redheadbride15

Ugh, girl, I feel your pain (literally). Also had a massive and unexpected dental bill within a month of our wedding that wiped out a large chunk of savings that we had hoped to put toward a downpayment on a house. And now H needs a new computer and car repairs... I guess that's life!

I also think that starting a new, married life together with your H is exactly the right time to make an effort to get back on track. The wedding and honeymoon expenses are over, so it's a good time to see what day-to-day expenses are causing the biggest problems. There are definitely "Finances for Dummies" types of books out there. My sister did a consultation with a financial planner when they ran into some difficulties when her husband was unemployed for a bit, and she said it was the best thing she's ever done.

[Deleted User]

Maggie0829 said:

beachyone15 said:

Ugh that sucks. I use a spreadsheet too, although our finances are usually static. We pay our bills every month and whatever we have left is for entertainment/savings/etc. But it does get more complicated when you have a lot of unexpected expenses.

No joke though, I still balance a checkbook. I just don't trust online banking to always be exact. Once I record something in my checkbook, it's gone (whether or not its actually gone from my account yet). It's the only way I can always know where I'm at.

I do too.  I balanced my checkbook after I wrote the check to H&R Block for doing our taxes. The guy was really surprised and said "I had no idea people did that anymore!"  Well I like to know what I have in my checking right now, rather then wait for you to cash my check and for it to show up on my online banking.

I do not use checks for this reason- the delay in check cashing.  I do everything via online banking and when I use my debit card, the withdrawal always shows immediately; as do my deposits b/c I use direct deposit. 

I fucked up too many times forgetting stuff when I balanced a check book, or subtracting wrong when in a hurry.  Now if something really does call for a check, I get a cashier's check or money order using money from my bank account, which is obviously immediately recorded.  The only expenses I get them for are to pay rent each month and to pay a few of my wedding vendors.

lyndausvi

FeeleyToBe said:

Maggie0829 said:

beachyone15 said:

Ugh that sucks. I use a spreadsheet too, although our finances are usually static. We pay our bills every month and whatever we have left is for entertainment/savings/etc. But it does get more complicated when you have a lot of unexpected expenses.

No joke though, I still balance a checkbook. I just don't trust online banking to always be exact. Once I record something in my checkbook, it's gone (whether or not its actually gone from my account yet). It's the only way I can always know where I'm at.

I do too.  I balanced my checkbook after I wrote the check to H&R Block for doing our taxes. The guy was really surprised and said "I had no idea people did that anymore!"  Well I like to know what I have in my checking right now, rather then wait for you to cash my check and for it to show up on my online banking.

I do not use checks for this reason- the delay in check cashing.  I do everything via online banking and when I use my debit card, the withdrawal always shows immediately; as do my deposits b/c I use direct deposit. 

I fucked up too many times forgetting stuff when I balanced a check book, or subtracting wrong when in a hurry.  Now if something really does call for a check, I get a cashier's check or money order using money from my bank account, which is obviously immediately recorded.  The only expenses I get them for are to pay rent each month and to pay a few of my wedding vendors.

I personally only write 1 check a month.  That is to the landlord.  I have a few other bills that require checks and I just use bill pay.  Couple of clicks of the mouse and the bank sends the check.

melbenso

We use an app for our phones called Home Budget (iphone, but I think its available in android too).  We got it because it would sync between our phones so if I enter something in our electronic check book on the app, it automatically shows up on H's too.  Made for a lot less sorting through stacks of receipts in our actual check book and worries about not having enough to cover things.  It also tracks the type of spending (when you enter something, you pick from a list and can also create your own categories.)  So I can easily see how much we are spending on groceries, rent, clothing, utilities, medical expenses, entertainment, etc. We even created a pet care category.  We can see what percentage of our income is going out in an given time period, etc.  There are also some budgeting tools on it that we don't really use.

Cookie Pusher

I'm awful, I never track anything. I just know in my head what I take home per month, what my fixed expenses are, and spend accordingly. I can't remember the last time I balanced my checkbook (probably 6 or 7 years ago... maybe?), but I know roughly what the balance is and the balance on my credit card within $100.

STARMOON44

I don't track my spending in any formal way. I know how much my big fixed expenses are, and roughly how much is left over to spend every month. My credit card is automatically payed in full from my checking account every month- if I know there's something big on the like medical expenses or travel, I move money from savings to cover it. My savings account is for that type of stuff- retirement is separate and inaccessible but my regular savings account is designed to cover one off large expenses so that I never have credit card debt.

southernbelle0915

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

kvruns

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

[Deleted User]

I don't budget.  I'm just cheap and I don't shop.  I know I can pay off my credit card bill, and sometimes do several times a month (I did just now while reading this thread).  Sometimes I'll spend less money (eating out less, etc) and will put more money into my savings account.  I'm hoping to increase my savings account by 10K in 2015.  Once I do, I'm going to bump my contributions to my retirement account again (today is my one year anniversary at work, they start matching my 401K contributions on July 1st!)  Once I do that, I'll probably start spending money on home improvement projects, but I really want to have that buffer first.  If I really worked at it, I think I could really decrease my spending, but I really like that cinnamon roll at Panera!

southernbelle0915

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

[Deleted User]

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Sorta.  As long as you take into account that $200 check you wrote to your cousin for his wedding last month that he didn't yet cash.  As long as you have $200 in your account to cover that check, you're fine.

Maggie0829

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.

beachyone15

Maggie0829 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.

Ditto this! I always thought I was the only one in the world that still used a checkbook!
But I guess I still do because that's how my mom taught me how to budget. So its just stuck with me.

STARMOON44

Maggie0829 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?


Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.



People still use checks? I write maybe 5 a year if that.

southernbelle0915

Maggie0829 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.

LOL! I dunno, I guess I'm just not bothered by it. I'm a creature of habit and spend my money in the same places all the time. So I can just glance online and see pretty quickly if something's amiss. 

Maggie0829

STARMOON44 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.

People still use checks? I write maybe 5 a year if that.

I write maybe one check a month.  But even when I pay my bills online (I don't use bill pay via my bank, but rather I go to each website where I need to pay my bill and then set up to have the bill paid on its due date) I balance my checkbook accordingly.  I just like to know what I have in my account right this minute because it sometimes takes the payment time to show up on my online banking.  So if I have my checkbook balanced then I know whether or not I have enough money in there to pay all of my bills that I had set up.

And sorry not sorry, I don't always trust online banking.  You never know when something might go wrong with the system or if it will be down for maintenance so I like to have my checkbook accurate and checks standing by just in case.

twoleighs

H and I use YNAB.  We like it because it's convenient - we have it on every device -  and pretty easy to setup.  

We have one joint checking and savings and I balance it every morning against YNAB.  I handle everything and I thought H was going to have a conniption when I set up everything on auto pay and turned off statements.  

aliwis000

My best advice?

Use cash. For everything. All the time.

Ok well somethings might have to be credit or check...rent, car payment and the like but everything else use cash.

I KNOW in my brain that me spending $50 at target and putting it on the credit card will mean I have to take $50 out of my checking at the end of the month and pay the credit card bill. I KNOW that. But it is just so much easier. Ask me for $50 cash and I will look at you like you grew a second head.

I gave the same advice to my sister just yesterday. She is a recent college grad and wants to start paying off loans etc. Just use cash. It will help keep you spending in check.

southernbelle0915

aliwis000 said:

My best advice?

Use cash. For everything. All the time.

Ok well somethings might have to be credit or check...rent, car payment and the like but everything else use cash.

I KNOW in my brain that me spending $50 at target and putting it on the credit card will mean I have to take $50 out of my checking at the end of the month and pay the credit card bill. I KNOW that. But it is just so much easier. Ask me for $50 cash and I will look at you like you grew a second head.

I gave the same advice to my sister just yesterday. She is a recent college grad and wants to start paying off loans etc. Just use cash. It will help keep you spending in check.

Personally, I never use cash. Because I get rewarded for money I spend when I use my credit cards and I build credit. I just use them and immediately pay them off.

Right now for example, I have 115,000 point on my Chase card. I can redeem those points for gift cards, travel, merchadise, whatever. DH and I have 250,000 miles with Delta. Some of that is travel earned (so not all spending on our Delta AmEx) but you get the idea.

natswild

I'm like @southernbelle15, I use my card for nearly everything, because I get travel points, and just pay off the credit card very quickly.  I rarely wait for the statement to come.
Great way to pay for the travel for the honeymoon! :-)

huskypuppy14

aliwis000 said:

My best advice?

Use cash. For everything. All the time.

Ok well somethings might have to be credit or check...rent, car payment and the like but everything else use cash.

I KNOW in my brain that me spending $50 at target and putting it on the credit card will mean I have to take $50 out of my checking at the end of the month and pay the credit card bill. I KNOW that. But it is just so much easier. Ask me for $50 cash and I will look at you like you grew a second head.

I gave the same advice to my sister just yesterday. She is a recent college grad and wants to start paying off loans etc. Just use cash. It will help keep you spending in check.

If that works for you, great. My sister and my husband use cash mostly, but I don't. If I take out 100 dollars in cash, it can be gone and I don't know what I spent it on (lunch, a dress, coffee, who knows). If I use a card, I can track what exactly I spent it on (or at least the store). That actually helps me budget better. I also like the rewards.

The other thing I do is put an alert on my bank account that sends me a text message when my bank account gets below a certain amount. For many years this amount was 1000, recently it's 2000. It's very rare that that happens (like once a year, usually around Christmas time). I pay all my credit cards in full every month and they are on auto pay so I don't forget. Almost all of my bills are on auto pay. I use mint now, but I used to manually balance everything with excel. 

I also wouldn't worry too much about messing up one month. It's hard to be in the green every month. As long as you have the money to cover your bills, you'll be fine. I find it better to look at trends. If you look at your annual budget or your quaterly budget and you are in the green, then you're good. When I look at my finances, it goes up and down each month. That could be for a variety of reasons. Electricity bills were paid on May 1 and May 31 (for example) so it looks like I am double the amount for utilities, but when evened out over a year, it's balanced. 

The rule I learned from suzi orman is pay the higher interest first. So if the credit card has a higher interest rate than your savings account (which is probable) then you are better off paying your credit card bill in full from your savings. 

lc07

Novella, I would use money from my savings account to pay the dentist bill. Then I'd pay my savings back the same way you would pay the credit card off if you decided to let the balance sit instead. If you want to really "punish" yourself for the over spending you can always pay yourself the interest into your savings account. Also, I think you're being a little hard on yourself. You noticed what happened and it sounds like you're unlikely to make the mistake again. Sounds like you're being responsible and taking it as a learning experience.

aliwis000

southernbelle0915 said:

My best advice?

Use cash. For everything. All the time.

Ok well somethings might have to be credit or check...rent, car payment and the like but everything else use cash.

I KNOW in my brain that me spending $50 at target and putting it on the credit card will mean I have to take $50 out of my checking at the end of the month and pay the credit card bill. I KNOW that. But it is just so much easier. Ask me for $50 cash and I will look at you like you grew a second head.

I gave the same advice to my sister just yesterday. She is a recent college grad and wants to start paying off loans etc. Just use cash. It will help keep you spending in check.

Personally, I never use cash. Because I get rewarded for money I spend when I use my credit cards and I build credit. I just use them and immediately pay them off. Right now for example, I have 115,000 point on my Chase card. I can redeem those points for gift cards, travel, merchadise, whatever. DH and I have 250,000 miles with Delta. Some of that is travel earned (so not all spending on our Delta AmEx) but you get the idea.

I agree with you. I use mine all the time for rewards as well. But for people trying to cut spending using cash for a time helps put the brakes on buying non essential items. When I was just out of school and tight on money I realized I could "budget" all I wanted on paper but if I was not strong enough to put down that extra *insert impulse buy here* at the store it did not matter. So using cash helped me keep my budget more. Plus when I was out of cash I could realize how fast that money went out the door. Once I paid things off I went back to cards, which I always pay off every month.

Maggie0829

aliwis000 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

My best advice?

Use cash. For everything. All the time.

Ok well somethings might have to be credit or check...rent, car payment and the like but everything else use cash.

I KNOW in my brain that me spending $50 at target and putting it on the credit card will mean I have to take $50 out of my checking at the end of the month and pay the credit card bill. I KNOW that. But it is just so much easier. Ask me for $50 cash and I will look at you like you grew a second head.

I gave the same advice to my sister just yesterday. She is a recent college grad and wants to start paying off loans etc. Just use cash. It will help keep you spending in check.

Personally, I never use cash. Because I get rewarded for money I spend when I use my credit cards and I build credit. I just use them and immediately pay them off. Right now for example, I have 115,000 point on my Chase card. I can redeem those points for gift cards, travel, merchadise, whatever. DH and I have 250,000 miles with Delta. Some of that is travel earned (so not all spending on our Delta AmEx) but you get the idea.

I agree with you. I use mine all the time for rewards as well. But for people trying to cut spending using cash for a time helps put the brakes on buying non essential items. When I was just out of school and tight on money I realized I could "budget" all I wanted on paper but if I was not strong enough to put down that extra *insert impulse buy here* at the store it did not matter. So using cash helped me keep my budget more. Plus when I was out of cash I could realize how fast that money went out the door. Once I paid things off I went back to cards, which I always pay off every month.

I agree with this completely.  Whipping out a credit card or bank card every time you want something is just too easy, but if you open your wallet and see that you only have $30 left for the month and there is 3 weeks left in that month, you will be less likely to buy that candy bar and soda from the gas station.

novella1186

aliwis000 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

My best advice?

Use cash. For everything. All the time.

Ok well somethings might have to be credit or check...rent, car payment and the like but everything else use cash.

I KNOW in my brain that me spending $50 at target and putting it on the credit card will mean I have to take $50 out of my checking at the end of the month and pay the credit card bill. I KNOW that. But it is just so much easier. Ask me for $50 cash and I will look at you like you grew a second head.

I gave the same advice to my sister just yesterday. She is a recent college grad and wants to start paying off loans etc. Just use cash. It will help keep you spending in check.

Personally, I never use cash. Because I get rewarded for money I spend when I use my credit cards and I build credit. I just use them and immediately pay them off. Right now for example, I have 115,000 point on my Chase card. I can redeem those points for gift cards, travel, merchadise, whatever. DH and I have 250,000 miles with Delta. Some of that is travel earned (so not all spending on our Delta AmEx) but you get the idea.

I agree with you. I use mine all the time for rewards as well. But for people trying to cut spending using cash for a time helps put the brakes on buying non essential items. When I was just out of school and tight on money I realized I could "budget" all I wanted on paper but if I was not strong enough to put down that extra *insert impulse buy here* at the store it did not matter. So using cash helped me keep my budget more. Plus when I was out of cash I could realize how fast that money went out the door. Once I paid things off I went back to cards, which I always pay off every month.

For some reason when I have cash in hand, I tend to spend it super fast and -- like Husky said-- then I have no clue what I spent it on. I think I have a general issue of just spending too much. 

I get a lot of points on my Chase card and redeem it for cash that goes into my savings account, and we have tons of points racked up on our travel card which we'll eventually redeem the next time we have the time and money for a vacation. So that works out well, for the most part. 

But it seems like I need to hide the credit cards for a while till I can figure out how to control myself :S 

I never had any kind of budget or limit when I was growing up. It was like: I want it, I get it. Simple. I used to not even look at price tags. So I've gotten myself into trouble with credit cards before and struggled to pay them off. It happened two summers ago and it was pretty bad, but I thought I had learned my lesson. Apparently old habits die hard. I feel like if  I could sit down and talk with a financial expert, they'd probably punch me in the face for being so careless and stupid with how I manage my money. 

emmaaa

Maggie0829 said:

STARMOON44 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.

People still use checks? I write maybe 5 a year if that.

I write maybe one check a month.  But even when I pay my bills online (I don't use bill pay via my bank, but rather I go to each website where I need to pay my bill and then set up to have the bill paid on its due date) I balance my checkbook accordingly.  I just like to know what I have in my account right this minute because it sometimes takes the payment time to show up on my online banking.  So if I have my checkbook balanced then I know whether or not I have enough money in there to pay all of my bills that I had set up.

And sorry not sorry, I don't always trust online banking.  You never know when something might go wrong with the system or if it will be down for maintenance so I like to have my checkbook accurate and checks standing by just in case.

I still balance our checkbook too. I don't think I ever write checks. Even when giving someone wedding or graduation money, I get a Visa Gift Card or just cash. But it also helps take into account your tips you leave. If you go to a restaurant and leave a $15 tip, it takes a couple of days to come out. So writing everything down in the register and making sure it correlates online is the best way to know what you have. Especially if your card has been compromised and you have $300 of extra charges that aren't yours, that's how you catch it early.

I also don't have automatic payments because I like to go to each website and KNOW that I am paying each bill.

DH and I don't have credit cards so we rely on our checking and savings to pay for htings.

klk111415

I used to suck at managing my finances.  My fiance is the total opposite and when he saw my credit score and all, he realized he needed to help me to save his own butt.  Which has totally paid off because my credit score after college was around 590 and now around 750 and now that we are also buying a house, we are getting approved for a much lower mortgage rate.  He taught me a lot with how to pay off my credit cards, like by paying the one with the highest APR first, and making minimum payments on the others... and we now have a joint checking account.  We do it a little different- instead on having our paychecks go into the joint account, they go into our separate accounts and we have an automatic transfer set up every 2 weeks (which is how often we are paid)  The amount we put into the joint account is the same amount and more than necessary for all of our expenses.  We ended up being able to save over 10k in the past 2 years which is going towards our downpayment and the wedding.  My car payment and student loans come out of my personal account and I set up my credit card payments so that they aren't all on the same day/week.  I still have some trouble managing expenses- esp with the stupid health bills not covered by health insurance (I hear you on that one!) but I'm so much better than I used to be.  I've been carrying a balance on my credit card for the past couple of months, but I'm trying not to sweat it.  

thisismynickname2

The best advice I ever got was as a teen when my dad gave me my own credit card: "Never put on the card more than you can pay at the end of the month." I had babysitting and some odd jobs, so that taught me how to budget (for all those babysitter's club books...). My parents also set me up with a savings account when I was eleven and told me "pay yourself first."

I do balance my checkbook about every two weeks. In this day and age, when it's so easy to have your card info stolen, I make sure every transaction on my account is one I myself made. 

I keep a Post-It in my checkbook of my monthly pay and expenses, including savings, and have a note of my average weekly discretionary income. 

First paycheck of the month:

--- huge chunk to savings

Second paycheck of the month:

--- Set up payments for bills

All this gets noted so I can see how I'm doing. For example, it's mid-June, and I just bought me and DH tickets to the ballet. That's nearly $150 of discretionary income out the door for one night, so the last two weeks this month I'll cut down on impulse food purchases or drinks with friends. I just have a sense of balance, like, a large purchase like that simply means less socializing for the month.

DH isn't as detailed with his money, he basically operates like I do without actually writing down the transactions. He's getting me into the habit of putting everything on our shared credit card that has airline miles. (I note all my purchases, so I know where my discretionary budget is.) We've earned thousands of miles and used miles for our honeymoon tickets and a vacation this fall to Europe. So while I agree with the sentiment that using cash for everything can make one more disciplined, putting things on reward cards when you are disciplined has a huge payoff!  

PrettyGirlLost

Maggie0829 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

kvruns said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Confession: I have no idea how to "balance a checkbook". I don't even know what that means. I haven't had a checkbook at all in like 3 years.

Record what goes in, what goes out and right what the balance of the account is.

1,000 starting balance

Spend 300, Balance is 700

Get paid 1000, Balance is 1700

Spent 100, Balance is 1600

etc.

I think it is a phrase that sticks around even though most people don't write the balance in a checkbook anymore but still means accounting for your bank account total and knowing what goes in and goes out

I glance at my statements every month and I'm like "hmmmm... yup, looks good." Does that count?

Oh gosh that gives me anxiety just thinking about only looking at my bank statements.  Because by the time the bank statement comes to the house (or even if you look at it online) then you still aren't seeing the current amount in there.  When my checkbook gets off by a few cents compared to my online bank I have to find my mistake because it will bother me if my paper checkbook doesn't match my online checkbook.

Well you are. . . if you like never use checks.  I thikn DH and I write 2 checks a month- one to the Landlord and one to my barn owner for board.

Everything else is paid for online.

I have a balance on a credit card that I'm paying off; Like many others here, it was for dental work.  Dental coverage for adults SUCKS in the US, WTF?!  But it's not a huuuge balance, thankfully.  My credit card actually has a pretty low limit- and I'm good with that!

I don't really have any significant savings right now, they dwindled over time, but I'll be working on remedying that once my credit card is paid off.

Don't beat yourself up if you are carrying a balance, it's really not the end of the world.  It's just something to work on resolving in the short term.  If you have money in savings that could resolve the balance, I'd pay it off or at least 3/4 off if you aren't comfortable taking that much out of savings.  Then start working your savings back up.