How do you keep track of checking?

[shlub]

As the spouse responsible for balancing the checkbook and paying the bills, I'm pretty good about tracking my expenditures (checks, debits, withdrawals, etc).

 

However, despite my best efforts, DW will not update her expenditures on a daily basis, making it difficult for me to keep track of exactly what is in the bank. This, in turn, makes it difficult for me to determine how much I can pay down credit cards and other bills.

 

How can I make it easier for DW to keep track of her charges?

[VibrantEcho]

First question that springs to mind is, what's your priority: keeping the register up to date, or convincing DW to "share" this responsibility? If it's the former, my suggestion is:

 

Receipts. DH and I both use our checkcards almost exclusively for our day to day purchases and don't keep a paper register - we use MS Money - so we enter everything into Money daily using the receipts from our purchases. So, how about just having DW hand off her receipts to you for entering into the register?

 

If you really want DW to be an active participant in maintaining your bank register, that's out of my league as I'm generally a money salamander and thankfully have a DH who is okay with handling things as outlined above.

 

Fiona

[Dane]

In my house, I manage the budget and pay the bills.( We both earn the money)

 

I have the checkbook and a debit card.

DH gets $20 cash a week and has a credit card for his other needs.

 

There is never a chance that we will bounce a check. He doesn't have to worry about giving me a receipt and he is really good about telling me about larger purchases so I am not blindsided by the credit card bill. It gets PIF monthly.

 

SIMPLE! EASY!! We NEVER fight about money! This system has worked for 5 years!

[Gingerly]

You could get her a $500 (or whatever works with y'alls budget) limit CC that she uses instead of the debit and you could PIF each month.

 

Or you could give her a cash allowance each week. Most people who don't like keeping track of money like getting an allowance.

[shlub]

My only priority is keeping the register up to date--I really don't mind shouldering this burden.

 

I am thinking that the allowance idea may be the way to go. This will remove the 'burden' of DW being forced to record all of her purchases/ debits.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful replies.

[Ahutchga1972]

I'm in charge of the checkbook at our house. Each day, I check our balance online with our bank, see what's cleared, and what we actually have in the acct. I tell that # to DH. I also tell him what bills will be paid that coming Friday and how much we'll roughly have left over (our work posts pending paychecks online).

Once DH knows the checking acct. balance, he is free to buy whatever he wants after the bills have come out. He gives me the receipts to record in the ledger when we both get home.

[madflower]

Start using credit cards and give him like 50 bucks a week. You never get overdrafts. You can get free reward points. You can check the balances online. It doesn't cost you anything since you will be paying your bills in full monthly.

 

I use it for my personal finances, I keep a rough running total in my head of purchases but that is really about it. Everything else shows up on my statement. And if you get a decent rewards program, you can have your own free gifts for managing your money well.

[DHK]

Since I do my banking at a credit union, I can have multiple checking accounts with no monthly fees.

 

So, we have 3 checking accounts:

- 1 DHK's Debit account

- 1 DHK's wife's debit account

- 1 checkwriting account.

 

Everytime we write a check, it comes out of the checkwriting account. We transfer the exact amount of the check to ensure that it clears without any overdraft fees, etc.

 

The remaining amounts in our individual accounts is ours to spend within our budgeted means.

 

Just our idea.

[munci98]

I recently switched DH to a cc. His spending has actually dropped. Cash seemed to go unaccounted for. Works great for us.

[JessieLyn]

me and my fiance both have our own seperate accounts. he is supposed to take care of the bills but hasnt paid anything yet (and its been since december )

 

Anyways... I was debating trying to talk him into having seperate accounts for our own spending and one bill paying account so I can take care of biklls and make sure tehy get paid (since im insane and check our mail every day (he claims thats insane... but ok) i could pay the bills the same day we get them if we have the money

 

Any ideas how to bring up the idea to him?

[CheapDB]

Any ideas how to bring up the idea to him?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Sure, tell him that since you two are going to be merging your lives, it's time for him to change his attitude about finances. Explain to him you are concerned about adding all the undue stress he creates around his moeny issues into your life. Remember, once you marry him, ALL of his debts and money issues become yours as well - regardless of whether you maintain separate accounts or not.

 

Offer your assistance since you seem to have your head on straighter.

[gigalot]

Ditto to cheapDB, find out upfront. I would go a step further and pull credit reports and go over them. Also talk about your individual and joint financial goals like when you want to retire, buy a house, have kids, what impact do you think it may have.

 

I know this was a simple expense tracking question, but since you're getting married these are important issues to discuss. It in no way means call off the wedding if you find something you don't like. Just means you get an opportunity to start building the financial bridge before things get ugly.

 

Can you tell I'm speaking from experience

 

Married 5 years and courted for 8 before that. I had no idea DH was that bad with money, or for that matter that I was not that much better.

[Slappified]

Definately discuss finances before marriage. My DW and I have disagreements every few months due to different outlooks on paying off the bills. She likes to spend just a little more than I would like, which results in our debt reduction getting a little slower. I don't know if I would have changed anything, if I knew before marriage what I know now, but it is something to think about. She had a lot more debt than I realized at the time, but had great credit cause she paid all her bills on time and had lots of credit. How we have it set up now, she gives me half her part of the bills (or however much I plan on putting on the bills) every month and the rest is hers to spend. Since I make more I pay for most things when we are out together. We also have separate checking accounts and I check my balance daily so I know when everything clears and is paid.

 

Thus the short story.

 

1. Separate checking accounts.

2. One person pay all the bills.

[travelgrl]

When DH and I were first married 12 yrs ago he had the same problem. Also thought if he had checks he had money because his mom never let him bounce a check. So I just took away the debit card and the checkbook and gave him an allowance.

[JessieLyn]

Ditto to cheapDB, find out upfront. I would go a step further and pull credit reports and go over them. Also talk about your individual and joint financial goals like when you want to retire, buy a house, have kids, what impact do you think it may have.

 

I know this was a simple expense tracking question, but since you're getting married these are important issues to discuss. It in no way means call off the wedding if you find something you don't like. Just means you get an opportunity to start building the financial bridge before things get ugly.

 

Can you tell I'm speaking from experience

 

Married 5 years and courted for 8 before that. I had no idea DH was that bad with money, or for that matter that I was not that much better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ah, we pull his credit already. he has 2 collections which I am disputing for him as soon as I get his address updated with the CRA's

 

Ones for an old tmobile account he said he never had. and the other is $31 for a "fine" when he was in jail for 2 days for speeding. Which he paid like 4 years ago.... go figure.

 

So, as soon as those come off he has nothing but inquiries.

 

I have the bad credit heh But i know how to pay bills and manage money. Just never apply it to my own stuff. always helping friends and such.

[fadlan12]

We found our best system using Visa check cards, even though it has been a pain keeping a register, We have been doing this since we bought our house (2yrs in May). Now that we have reached a respectable score in our continual improvment we use a rewards CC card for all day to day expenditures. Now we pay most everything with the card and billpay auto PIF at the end of the month.

[JessieLyn]

I just figured, we bank at the same bank... can open a checking together for bills and transfer a set amount to that account each week or so to cover bills.

 

I might have a new job soon thanks to my landlord meaning a little more money coming in for me... also means old debts and such can get paid and my current bills can too which will lower my debt down and allow me to start saving more than I have been.

 

when we first moved in together we agreed that I'd pay half. But, then I lost a job and cant afford to even come close. We have a room mate and he pays a third of everything so my current monthly stuff SHOULD BE

 

rent $300

phone $8 a mo.

cable/internet $30 a mo.

electric $20 a mo.

my groceries (because im picky and told him he shouldnt have to pay for mine) $80 a mo.

cell phone $65-75 depends on it i go over my text messages heh

 

grand total $503-513 a mo

 

I currently make 308 a month and have $3,129 in debt that NEEDS to be paid.

 

Ive been paying my cell phone monthly and paying the debt down $30 per account each month (2 are collections so, no interest is accumulating... one is open and i called and negotiated to have account frozen til i got it down below the limit again)

 

if i get this job my landlord is gonna try to get for me Ill be making about double what I am right now. and im debating paying more on my debt to get that taken care of first.... and then after its paid then start chipping in my portion of everything.

 

He makes about $2k a month

 

his bills are the same as mine for rent, phone, cable/internet (plus my share because i cant afford it at the moment)

his cell phone bill is usually around 80-100 but should be $35 a mo after he gets on his employers plan.

car insurance is about 140 a month.

gas which i believe he does about 20 a week.

 

but he never pays the bills........ and he has tons in his checking that he isnt using... just has sitting there to look pretty i suppose?

 

I should just have him sign checks and ill pay the bills til we get an account together for bills. IF he wants to do it....

[invisible assistant]

one thing that i used to do with my CCs and when i first got my debit card (and might consider doing again) was to keep a colored envelope that would stand out in my purse. i would write the beginning balance on the front, place my card(s) in there and i would put the receipts in with the cards while shopping. then after a few days (if i didn't do it daily) i would take out all of the receipts and do the math right there on the envelope. yeah a checkbook and check register would do the same thing as doing the math on the envelope and holding receipts and cards but i kept a small purse and the envelope was actually kinda fun... plus, every month i shredded the receipts that were for items that i wouldn't need to return (gas and groceries, etc) and i would write what big purchases i made (vacuum, TV, etc) on the front and left the matching receipt inside... and i filed away the envelope. it was handy and a little easier to find the receipts i might need later on.

[jodyangel]

I saw this on Dr. Phil yesterday and Im going to start using it this next pay. I will take out a specific amount..lets say $200 and make it last the pay period for things like eating out, gas ect. That way I wont be using the Debit card so much..thus not knowing exactly how much Im spending. I like the idea of keeping receipts daily too and adding them at the end of the day and putting them into a program on my pc..just have to decide which to use.

 

Im actually excited about having this much control over my spending habits. Weirdddd huh? LOL!!!

[Tigz]

one thing that i used to do with my CCs and when i first got my debit card (and might consider doing again) was to keep a colored envelope that would stand out in my purse.  i would write the beginning balance on the front, place my card(s) in there and i would put the receipts in with the cards while shopping.  then after a few days (if i didn't do it daily) i would take out all of the receipts and do the math right there on the envelope.  yeah a checkbook and check register would do the same thing as doing the math on the envelope and holding receipts and cards but i kept a small purse and the envelope was actually kinda fun... plus, every month i shredded the receipts that were for items that i wouldn't need to return (gas and groceries, etc) and i would write what big purchases i made (vacuum, TV, etc) on the front and left the matching receipt inside... and i filed away the envelope.  it was handy and a little easier to find the receipts i might need later on.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This a great, phenomenal , stupendous suggestion!

Think I will try it.

 

Would you mind if I copy and pasted it over to the ADD/ADHD thread on money management?

 

For those with ADD/ADHD...how do you cope..

[Pam]

We have three bank accounts at the same institution:

 

1 for bills, into which paychecks are deposited

1 for DH's monthly budgeted spending aka allowance

1 for my budgeted spending aka allowance

 

There is no debit card attached to the bills account, therfore there is no way a debit card transaction can interfere with the bills getting paid. This account is linked to our savings account as OD protection.

 

Our spending accounts have debit cards and are not linked to any other account, so when the money is gone, the money is gone. Neither account have checks.

 

We then set up a reasonable budget, one that gets the bills paid, allows me to pay down the credit card debt, and still keeps us from feeling "pinched" for spending money. Then every payday, the spending money is transferred from the bills account to the spending accounts.

 

DH gets a higher allowance than I do, because he finally figured out that my "Honey, can you stop at the store on the way home and pick up a widget for me?" was decreasing his amount of spendable money.

[invisible assistant]

i don't mind at all, Tigz... copy away! and thanks!