One of my hopes after I got my first PC was that I could use it with my checking account. Altogether, I had 3 very nice products over the years that did work nicely.

However, oddly, the one method that I found to work the best for me was a multi-page spreadsheet. Each page was for a calendar month. Each line was for a check and started with the date, then check number. Naturally, this was a D or A for deposit or ATM. The next column was for payee or payer.

Finally, I had several columns for catagory. These might be, household, car, utilities (possibly included in household) etc. You get the idea. Sums can be at the right and across the bottom. These can be set to automatically update.

The right most column would carry the balance, which could be carried from one page to the next. A separate page would be a year summery and would be updated from the bottom of the month pages. Finally, charts could be developed from bottom of page sheets. Chart could be on month pages as well as the year pages.

I actually used mine for a number of years and balancing my checkbook rarely took more than a few minutes. I suppose that a database program could be used the same way but I could never figure a way to carry a balance from one item to the next.

Naturally, I didn’t go into great detail here. Among other things, everyone would have their own preferences. Moreover, it is not my purpose to go into details. After all you might not have any interest in it.

Besides all that, if you’re like most, you likely don’t even bother balancing your checkbook. In fact, nowadays most don’t write checks. The other day, I was in a restaurant and another customer set his phone next to card reader. A few seconds later, not only was the transaction done, but the guy also knew his up-to-date balance. Sorta makes a person wonder, what’s the point?