Balancing your checkbook can be a daunting task. There are so many people who dread it that many consumers never do it. The problem with not balancing your checkbook is that your basically trusting the bank to do everything right and that's just not reality.
Banks can make mistakes when it comes to clearing checks or posting transactions. Some of those errors can be posting a transaction for the wrong amount of money, posting transactions to the wrong account and even not posting deposits. While most banks will say that they don't make many mistakes, they will admit that they do happen and the consumer only has a limited time to report these errors to get them fixed.
WHAT IS BALANCING A CHECKBOOK?
Balancing a checkbook means reconciling your account records with the bank's records on each bank account. It is the process of making sure that the transactions you recorded in your checkbook register match the transactions that the bank has recorded and that your recorded balance matches what the bank has as your balance.
IT'S BEEN HOW LONG?
Balancing your checkbook can be quite a job if you haven't done it in a long time. There are many ways you can approach this particular problem. One approach is to go back over the last few months bank statements and try to start from there. If that is your desired plan of action, follow the balancing steps below. Another approach could be to stop using the account for a few weeks and let everything clear the bank, get a balance and start new from there. The last approach is to scrap the whole account. Leave an amount in the account to cover any outstanding items (to the best of your knowledge) and start a whole new account. All of these approaches require that once you get the account to a fresh start, you keep it balanced from then on.
STEPS TO BALANCING YOUR CHECKBOOK
1. Gather your checkbook, your bank statement, a calculator (optional) and a pen/pencil.
