Pissed off at myself.
Today when I got money from the cash machine at the Union, I was shocked to see the amount of money left in my account was about $1,000 less than I thought it would be. I knew I had been spending a lot of money, but I was shocked. I went and got a printout from the bank, and I found that one of the reasons I had earlier thought I had so much money was that for some weeks my apartment management company waited more than two weeks to cash my check. I hadn’t realized that.
Of course, I should balance my checkbook and everything, but I never do. I just feel ashamed of my lackadaisical-ness. It’s childish and careless. Worse yet, it kind of curtails what I’ll be able to do until I start teaching this four-week class. In reality, I do have my other checking account, so that is not really true, but I will be ashamed if I have to tap into it.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
do people use checks a lot in the states?
i never used one myself, always pay using a card of bank transfer, so the concept of “balancing a checkbook” is something i don’t quite grasp.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
We have been using a checkbook register template that is on office.com for years, instead of the “traditional” way of balancing a checkbook. It’s a much better, and easier way of doing that chore. If you would like it, let me know and I’ll send it your way.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Hi Ana –
Checks used to be the only thing people used until maybe 1988, when ATMs started becoming more popular. Now we use them both. Rent and stuff usually goes on checks.
I think we use “balance a checkbook” to mean keep track of your money — it can be literally done in a checkbook, because they come with a little insert you can use to do that, but I guess now some people do it via computer program, like Lee. I never thought of doing it that way before.
We also tend to have two accounts at one bank here — a checking account, and a savings account you can’t write checks on. Some banks make you have both. I don’t know if anything like this exists in Portugal.