Currently, I just keep track of all of my bills and spending. Keeps me more accountable and conscious of purchases or savings. But I don’t take into acount the actual value of my bank account(s), just the money I’m bringing in and how I spend it.
How may of you balance your “checkbooks” with your budgets?
I use YNAB and reconcile daily. It’s quick and helps maintain new habits for financial peace.
I do it daily, sometimes skip on the weekends, but if I did a lot of shopping, I have to document and review all transactions.
I track my cashflow in my spreadsheet. For each transaction I log I have a column for which account paid for it.
I have a 1-month buffer and reconcile monthly. My Excel tracks bills, income, and accounts automatically.
we do every week and at the end of every month. Blessedly, we come out ahead every month.
I don’t balance accounts but track expenses daily, rounding to the nearest dollar. Bills are checked against plans, and unexpected amounts are reviewed. Interest is only checked when running my balance sheet, with discrepancies over $5 drawing more attention.
@PEY I balance daily. It takes 5 minutes to update my spreadsheets with my purchases, payments, and new balances. It keeps me on track with my spending and helps me see how an out of budget purchase will affect my long term goals.
I track my net worth monthly using credit card transactions by category. It helps me spend below my income.
@economist1 I used to track every penny in and out so I could get a base for expenses for budgeting. I do that about twice a year. But now I mostly track bank account balances every couple of weeks instead
I don’t even look at my bank account. I legitimately have no idea how much money is in there right now.