Monday, January 17, 2011

Balancing Your Checkbook

I feel sheepish saying this, but I honestly don't know what it means to balance your checkbook. I do all my banking online, and I track my expenses with Excel. Now I question what I've been missing. I mean, it looks like Margo is having the time of her life. So set me up with a pencil, two sheets of blank paper, and the largest pot of coffee you can find, I'm ready to switch to manual financing!

5 comments:

Carlye said...

I balance my checkbook all the time, and it's just as orgasmic an experience for me!

Gerard said...

Note that she is merely ATTEMPTING to balance her checkbook, and with an HB pencil at that. And not succeeding, though that doesn't seem to be getting her down.
But also note that, in the second panel, the pad of paper seems to have morphed into an iPad. How magical is that?

pq said...

See, in olden days before online banking and debit cards, you could pay for items directly from your checking account using a paper check, which came in a checkbook. Then you'd write down each transaction in the little booklet that came with your checks in the checkbook. Then every month your bank would mail you a statement that told you all the transactions you made and how much money was in your account. Then you could "balance" your checkbook--i.e., make sure that your records matched the banks! Oh what fun it was!

Now let me tell you about how we listened to music on a "record player"... because I just don't feel old enuf today!!!!

Kattastic said...

I had to explain to my eight year old today what a "phone jack" is for, and how telephones used to plug into the wall and you couldn't even leave the room with them unless you had a really long cord. She thought that was pretty dumb.

Carlene Schnitzer said...

Keeping track of all your expenses can sometimes be a tedious task, but it must be done. To keep the task manageable, I regularly update my records every weekend. So far, with this habit, I have managed just fine with keeping my finances balanced.