Keeping track of the finances ... (ventish)

**TheRootedNomad** · 12-07-2008, 06:50 PM

Normally I am oh so organized when it comes to the numbers. I can generally tell you where every penny has went. The last 2 months have been a nightmare and the reality is they should have been much easier since all the home repair projects have been on hold. Somewhere in mid-November I threw in the towel, yelled "DO OVER", and restructructured the spreadsheet to start Nov. 15th. I blew that and started over for the beginning of Dec. Here we are at the .... what is this????....the 7th??? and the sheet doesn't balance with my cash on hand and checkbook. To be exact it's $332.35 off .... and not to my advantage. Usually I can find what I've missed but this is a hot mess and completely unlike me. How many times can I yell "DO OVER"? I need to find the root of the problem. I guess I'll go back to tracking EVERY SINGLE DAY. I haven't had to do that in years.

Any one have any secrets for when they completely fly off the tracks? I'll be up all night trying to figure out where that money is at.

**Michelle68** · 12-07-2008, 08:37 PM

Ugh! What a pain! It sounds like you must be missing something for a discrepancy of that amount. I think tracking the daily expenses for awhile is a good idea. I normally balance everything at least once a week. Even then I sometimes find that I'm off a bit and can't figure out where it is.

**dcompton** · 12-07-2008, 09:09 PM

If I do it, I'm a to-the-penny person too and it drives me nuts until I track discrepancies down. But I've stopped doing it and only balance checking, saving, and cc accounts. Cash I've given up on. It just took too much mind space and energy.

But that's a big chunk of money. I would have to track that down too. No suggestions, but good luck with it.

**peanut** · 12-07-2008, 09:09 PM

Hmmm....are you having anything automatically withdrawn from your bank accounts? DH and I are bad with those. Also, sometimes we go places that don't give receipts unless you ask. I used to go to an acupuncturist I had to ask for receipts all the time. Occasionally I'd forget. We could generally figure it out though because her fees were set and it was out by that amount.

Hope you find it soon...

Jean

**Ilovesewing** · 12-07-2008, 09:11 PM

I understand - I'm an at least every-other-day balancer myself or I find it impossible. It was much easier before the days of ATM if you ask me!

**TheRootedNomad** · 12-08-2008, 08:51 AM

I tossed and turned most of the night. Haven't found it yet and it's making me crazy because there is the possibility that we've nickled and dimed it with the "no reciept" thing. I figured I'd probably run into about $50 of that but $335 seems completely unrealistic and like I've missed a bill or something. I am going to put on some Enya later, heat some tea, and replay the past few days in my head. Hopefully I'll see what I missed. If I don't I guess I'll go back to the start off the goof several weeks back and see if something has been carried over from the original screw up.

Donna - I wish I could just balance the checkbook and be done with it. We use mainly cash though so if I didn't keep track we would definately get large leaks.

**peanut** · 12-08-2008, 12:56 PM

Well, if it makes you feel any better, we're out by $400 on our cash count from January, and we've been making a conscientious effort to keep track by recording as we spend and entering into Quicken every week. This is the first year we've been out so little. Usually cash is out around $1000, and we can never find it...sigh...

Jean

**fixer** · 12-08-2008, 03:46 PM

I feel your pain. My mother worked in a bank and instilled in me that every penny must be accounted for. I find it especially hard when using cash. We have all of our bills we can automatically debited from our account. The remainder we use a credit card that is also paid automatically. This helps us track spending.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 12-08-2008, 04:06 PM

Oh boy, I've been there before and then some!

I had that trouble when I first started with being the only keeper of the finances. I thought I had it right the first time; I'd switch it to make it easier, and it felt like a huge axe was aiming for my head and I had to duck fast.

Here's what I would do: go through all of your paperwork since you started. Find all of the receipts that you've accumulated - ATM, grocery, gas, etc. If your bank statements can show you where your money went to, then you should be ok. The checkbook really isn't my kind of tool to figure out where all the money went, which is why I keep every single piece of paper I get that correlates to expenses.

I never use cash because we have Interac here and every place I go to either accepts that or credit card. I keep the receipts for the credit card, compare it to the statement, and I also do the same if I ever take cash out of the ATM. I also keep all of my bank slips, no matter what I needed to use the bank for.

I'd go through the last six months of expenses, back to when everything was balanced.

**LuvMyHubby** · 12-08-2008, 05:45 PM

Ugh, I have done that before, not that much money but it was bothersome all the same.

I think that you gotten some really good ideas. Did you have a couple of debit card transaction that didn't get recorded. I love using my debit card but have to remain steadfast in making sure I record them.

Good Luck.

**frugalfriend** · 12-08-2008, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by TheRootedNomad

Any one have any secrets for when they completely fly off the tracks? I'll be up all night trying to figure out where that money is at.

What I do is walk away from it for a little while. Then I come back later with a clear head and new perspective and always find the problem. Good luck ~ I know how frustrating that can be!