You might be wondering why my chequebook register would scare me. What exactly does this mean? Well, you may have a fear of your own chequebook if you never post checks, make debit withdrawals, or balance your chequebook because you think other things are more important. You really don't want to know what your balance is, and you're afraid that if you do, you'll really know how much money you have. You know you'll need to find out eventually, but you're not there yet, and you're not sure what you should do to get there. If you are afraid to look at your chequebook register, you might want to try some of the following:
- Schedule a time to look at your chequebook register. You'll need some time alone, preferably in a quiet place at home. By giving yourself time to look over your check register, you should feel calm, relaxed, and ready to do this job. Make sure you give yourself enough time so that you don't feel rushed. You might want to give this at least an hour.
- As you go through your transactions, make sure to mark them as completed and reviewed in your check register and possibly on a copy of the item you are trying to balance.
- You might want to set up a regular schedule to balance your check book register. Try to stick to the time you have set aside to do this for yourself.
- Get a recent copy of the information about your bank transactions, such as checks that have cleared your account, debit card withdrawals, and other withdrawals and deposits to your account. If you sign up for your bank's online banking programme, you should be able to get a copy of your account transactions over the internet. If not, you should be able to get this information by calling your bank or using an ATM. To accurately figure out how much money is in your bank account, you'll need to know what went into it.
- While you're balancing your chequebook, you might want to look at how you spend your money over time. When you're balancing your account, you might notice some patterns that you might want to change if necessary.
- When you look over your check register, be sure to look at each entry carefully first. Before you try to balance your chequebook, make sure you know where all of your checks, debit card withdrawals, ATM withdrawals, and deposits went.
That wasn't hard at all, right? Every time you balance your chequebook, it will be easier than the last time. You'll learn more about how you spend your money and may be able to make changes that will save you money in the long run. So go ahead and get started, you'll be glad you did!
