Sharing the checkbook register
My wife and I used to constantly discuss why our personal finances were on my computer. We used one of the “standard” personal finance software, and that meant the checkbook register resided on my computer. That usually meant I did the checking account reconciliations, most of the entries on the register, and effectively controlled the family finances. My wife, shrewd as she is, realized that we could handle our finances better if we were both working on them.
After some thought, we decided to use Google Docs to maintain our checkbook register. Since Google Docs is a “cloud-based” computer program run through Google, we can access our checkbook register from any computer. If I withdraw some money to put in our envelope system, I can enter the withdrawal from my work computer. Steph can log into our register from her computer through our joint Google account. I’ve even made an entry on an iPhone before.
I will talk more about how simple is often better when starting your personal finance program in a future post, but I would highly recommend using a web-based system like Google Docs or OpenOffice.org to maintain your checkbook register. You can duplicate past register sheets and just delete the entries to give yourself a clean sheet for each period. Steph and I reconcile our checkbook every six to eight days by downloading the appropriate dates from our home bank’s online banking system. We name each sheet with the days of that reconciliation period. We have a separate page with common transactions, such as our weekly daycare check. We can then just copy and paste that recurring transaction when it occurs and edit the check number and date. We DO NOT have any identifying information about the bank or account number anywhere on the spreadsheet. Plus, we have to log into our Gmail account as an extra level of security.
As my wife said the first time she entered a transaction, “I REALLY like this system!” I would encourage you to start using a web-based checkbook register as a key part of your personal finance program.
