TwoFlowersLuggage wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 2:50 am
Railsplitter - why do you use a spreadsheet? Why not just use Quicken? You can have it synch with your bank account and many credit cards so you don't have to enter all your transactions. You can also pay all your bills electronically so you never have to write a check. Many banks also have online systems that do pretty much the same thing. I use Wells Fargo's online system and it works great.
It's a long story but my wife will overdraft her checking account if she doesn't ALWAYS know how much money she has in it. To avoid that, I keep a printed spreadsheet on the dining room table. I update that spreadsheet by hand each day and put it back on the table. It's itemized for things like Gas, Groceries, Haircut, Spending Money, etc. If she started out with $100 for gas then came home with a gas receipt for $50 I'll change the spreadsheet from $100 to $50.
Each time she leaves the house she looks at that spreadsheet on her way out and makes a mental note of how much money she has for anything she might buy that day.
When we first got together she managed her own checking account and she never knew how much money she had overall. Not to mention how much for each item. This is the only way that I know of to keep her informed and to keep her from over drafting her account. I suppose I could use Quicken or one of those applications but it seems like it would be just as much of a hassle.
I do the same thing with my credit card that you do. I have no annual fee and I pay in full each month. I also get Cash Rewards. Since I pay no interest and get cash rewards,
they pay
me to use their card instead of the other way around. I also pay all of our bills online. I haven't written a check since May when I had a contractor clean my gutters for me.