Teacups and Checkbooks
The look on the young cashier’s face was all I needed. I’ve been in that same place and I wanted to help her the way someone did for me.
Recently I visited a local deli in town. I gave my order to the cashier and as I was pulling out my check card she pushed the cash key and zeroed out and completed the transaction. I could tell she was in shock for a moment and was still thinking of what to do, in silence. I calmly said “That’s ok I have cash”. And that’s when the opportunity for a lesson happened for her and myself.
I’ve noticed that cashiers rely on the machine to tell them how much money to give back. And what they would consider “counting back” is no more than counting up to the money the machine told them. But what if someone was buying a five dollar item handing over $10 and the cashier puts in $100? Some folks would just mindlessly give back change of $95 not thinking about it because that was what the machine told them to give back. I’ve had that happen before.
As my deli cashier was trying to figure out how much change to give back, I had a chance to ask if she knew how to “count back”. She said no, she’s never been able to understand it. So I told her I would help her. That way we made sure we both had the right about of money.
My first non babysitting job was when I was 16 or 17 at an Evan Picone retail women’s clothing shop. They were going out of business in a local mall so it was a perfect time for me to get my foot in the door of working in the “real world”. One of the things the manager did during my training as the cashier was make sure I knew how to count back. The poor customer that was checking out became the involuntary guinea pig for my lesson. The customer waited patiently until I was truly able to understand. And that was a good five minutes…took me a little bit:) So I took the time to go over counting back the old fashioned way with my cashier at the deli until she got it.
My order was for $5.46. I gave her a $20 bill. So my change with counting back to me would be saying out load: $5.46(my cost spoken no money given to me) plus 54 cents makes 6 dollars, (using $1 bills) makes 7 makes 8 makes 9 makes 10, (using a $10 bill) makes 20. Wha-La! I have the right change back and she has a balanced register.
That got me thinking about how I balance my checkbooks. I’ve been in conversations before where some people really struggle with how to balance a checkbook….so they just don’t, ever. I don’t have a hard time with it. As a matter of fact I think it’s fun. Kinda like a mystery to be solved. I get how to do a checkbook, but taxes….no thanks:)
So I wanted to share how I balance a checkbook to the penny. But before I do, let me say why I think keeping an old fashioned checkbook register is a good idea.
Believe it or not the bank(machine) makes mistakes. Not too common for me but it’s happened.
You have a chance to prevent a problem before it happens. Like duplicate items, auto drafts, or a charge that was supposed to be one number but went through another number.
It’s a part of your life that you have full control over.
Having expenses and deposits staring you in the face is a great way to get a reality check of what you invest in(spend money on).
So here’s the steps I take to balance my checkbook:
Requirement: A nice cup of tea.
Put on some calm music.
Get out the ol’ checkbook and get down to business.
Write in any loose receipts that haven’t been recorded on the register.
Add and/or Subtract the register to the final debit or credit.
Log in to online banking, write on a sheet of paper what the bank says my balance is.
Scroll through each line of the online bank transactions. Making sure I have them written in my register.
If the debit/credit is “pending” I put a dot in the middle of the box in the check off column.
If the debit/credit is “posted” I put a slash (/) in the check off box. When a pending turns into a posted item my / goes right through my dot.
If a debit/credit is online and not in my register, I go ahead and write it in the register with my assigned pending or posted symbol.
I keep going through each online transaction until I get to at least two or three that have already been / posted. Then I know I’m where I left off last balancing.
Go back and do the math in the register for anything I had to write in the register that the bank had that I didn’t.
If all transactions in my register are . or / then my balance on the register should match the balance the bank says that I wrote down in step 6.
If I have transactions written in the register that aren’t . or / yet (ex. check that’s not cleared yet, an auto draft that hasn’t happened yet) then I do the math opposite of what is should be. I’ll explain…
14A. If it’s a debit/charge that hasn’t shown up online yet, I add it back to my balance I have written in the register.
14B. If it’s a credit/deposit that hasn’t shown up online yet, I subtract it from my balance I have written in the register.
Then compare the adjusted balance I think it should be with what the bank says it is.
My balance and the banks’ should be the same number at this point. And if they balance with each other I underline _ the change of the balance. (Ex 123.45)
If it’s not balancing still, Here’s some things I’ve run into that have made it not balance before:
~I have a math error subtracting or adding. This is when I go back to that underline and start doing the math over one line at a time from that underline down. I know there’s no math errors from the underline and up because the register was correct to that point.
~If I did have a math error I write a * next to where the math error was. Then write another * in a mirrored placement with a new transaction line where I corrected it. (Ex. Deli math error *)
~If there’s multiple math errors…I get creative with my symbols:) Each error gets the same symbol as it’s correction;) I’ve used different color pens/highlighters etc.
~Gratuity doesn’t always show up online. That’s why I write the pre gratuity amount next to the name of the place/restaurant. Usually the pre gratuity shows up online as pending then when it switches to posted and cleared it will have the real amount with the gratuity included.
~Sometimes fuel charges show up as $1 until it fully posts with online banking with the full amount charged.
~Occationally some places with have a charge that is behind the scenes/not visible on my online banking. When that happens I wait a couple days and balance again. Usually it balances by then. Some fuel and hospitality businesses with put a hold behind the scenes that you can’t see.
Now I can see all the things I have invested/spent my money on. Did I spend/invest wisely? Did I invest/spend where my values are? What’s my return on investment with where I chose to spend?
This is where the cup of tea comes in…With your “investing portfolio”(checkbook register) staring at you in the face. Sometimes reality is a hard pill to swallow and you need a nice cup of tea to help wash it down.
Balance your checkbook for a good review of how you’ve been investing your money.
Then decide if that’s where you want to keep investing. If not, change course and be intentional.
I believe you are worth investing in. So put your money where your values are…
Are you a checkbook and teacup junkie like me? Let me know in the comments.