Do You Check Your Bank Account Regularly?

one thing I have done for years with my debt card is after I use it in the store (rarely) use it. When I get home to my check book I always document rounding it up . So if I use, for example, $28.00 on a purchase then when I get home I note that I used $30.00 on that purchase, so I have a built in surprise amount. but of course I never balance my check book, so LOL.

 

I only write one cheque a year, that's for our £9 ground rent. The company that own it would dearly love me to pay them on line, but I make them send me a demand and I pin a cheque to it and post it back. I think the cost to them to deal with this is probably nearly as much as the payment.

Budgets have always interested me.
I've mentioned earlier that I mirror both my bank account and credit card on annual rolling Open Office spread sheets. There's a third sheet that shows a four-weekly summary.
As I spend stuff I update my spreadsheets, usually once a week, as I keep the receipts, but only those where I might need proof of purchase at a laater date. I pin them to my copies of the statements. They are easier to find that way. I only have to scroll back looking at a particular "category."

I check these monthly against the actual statements which then get shredded.
I go into detail as to where I'm spending money. Makes interesting reading at the end of the year. Here's a bit of one.




I also yearly set budgets for income, direct debits, credit card spend, cash spend and savings.
There's always an amount added for contingencies.

In theory, if I stick to the budget, knowing how much cash I have on 1st January I can predict what I'll have on December 31st. I was used to setting and working to budgets when I was working. These in business were usually "set in stone." Of course with mine, if I don't think "contingencies" is enough to cover something expensive my wife decides we "need" I just change the budget!

As for cheques, I've a friend in Holland who tells me, their country got rid of cheques years ago.

 

With such a low ground rent think I would be tempted to ask them for a price to purchase the freehold which would benefit both parties ..?

 

IMHO you really should try and get up to date with online banking and services as you will find they can be essential, almost life savers, as you get older.

So many things , like banks, dentists, doctors, hospital, food shopping are all geared to online and mobile phone texts its a shame not to be able to utilize them.

Do you have any trusted folk around who can help guide you though things at a steady pace, am sure you can soon get used to it.
I used to help my old mother 90+ get used to telephone banking, debit cards and computers , once she tried it and overcame that natural scepticism was only too pleased to use it as it gave her a feeling of independence.

 

No problem for me, never have any money in my bank account, Carol helps me spend it all!:rage:

 

You'd be forgiven for thinking that.


They offer it every year for £600 plus.

I'd have to be around for another 67 years before it will become worthwhile.

Our house is 54 years through a 999 year lease.

 

What is ground rent?

I don't get printed statements for my personal accounts and I look online once a month to make sure everything looks right.

I do not track my purchases, I do not reconcile my personal chequing account,, I do not have a specific budget. I know I have set expenses to cover every month and just make sure the chequing account has enough to cover. The discretionary dollars left, I spend on whatever the mood strikes. If I don't have the money for some toy, I save for it by deciding to set aside umpty so dollars each week until I have it

 

This is quite common in the UK.
It has come in for a lot of criticism here in recent years by land owners where the amount payable doubles after every ten years.
The argument being that the land is increasing in value far more quickly in the last few decades than when ground rent was hardly worth mentioning.
It can also cost the householder a few thousand pounds for "permission" from the landowner, if they want to build an extension or any alteration to the home like even changing the front door.


Our ground rent of £9, actually it's £4.50 payable half-yearly as far as the terms go, was set when the house was built at the same time as about another hundred of similar design. There's no "strings" attached, the ground rent can't be increased and we didn't need permission to have our extension built.

Although I do pretty much everything that's "financial" on-line. I still won't go paperless, as I'd be screwed for a few days if my laptop went down.
I'm also "belt and braces" with my files. Nothing on my laptop, it's all on a separate hard drive and I also back everything up on a couple of memory sticks just to be sure.

 

My online bank account statements can be retrieved going back several years. But, other than for my business, I don't save that stuff.

Still don't understand ground rent. You own your home so why do you have to pay anyone anything?

There is about 6 feet of land at the front of my yard that is owned by the town but they don't charge me anything. I'm requred to keep it groomed... hmmm... maybe I should charge them!

 

In the UK properties v can be freehold or leasehold. Freehold is as your system. Leasehold is you lease the land the property is on for say 99 years. The cost is usually around £10 to £50 per year , although it is costing a lot more on some properties. It is an archaic system and should be changed.
Our archaic expert @shiney can probably explain this far better than I can

 

A couple of decades ago the Government were talking about getting rid of these ground rents of silly amounts. Does anyone think someone will be still collecting £9 a year from the occupants of our house in 2964? Civilisation will have died out long before then.

 

Yes, I'm the same with things like that. I have every invoice for service work to all of my vehicles right from the day I bought them and also their original sales agreement. I keep all receipts for appliances etc. I even have two binders for "gardening items". Started with one, now needed a second!