How To Reconcile Your Checking Account: Fill & Download for Free

I would call the course "Life" !OK don't start laughing just yet...The curriculum of my one year required course would be life skills that many families have lost over the past 50 years, and some which haven't necessarily been lost, but that don't seem to get taught very well at home. It would be an interdisciplinary course and here is just a brief list of what would be covered. Please feel free to add items as you see fit :-)1. Basic wiring2. Basic plumbing3. How to sew and iron4. How to manage and reconcile your checking account5. Public speaking6. Basic economics (loans, interest, savings, retirement planning)7. How to cook...just basic skills8. How to shop (recognizing which product is really cheaper)9. How to negotiate (salary, car purchase, etc)10. Basic woodworking11. Doing your own basic taxes12. How to complete a job application13. How to do an interview14. Car basics (change tire, oil, windshield wipers, use a gas pump, light bulbs, checking fluids)15. Finding an apartment (what rent you can afford, security deposit, etc)16. Credit cards !17. Utilities18. Basic budgeting based on your salary19. Basic self defense20. Basic first aid/CPROK that is a good start I think (I even ran it by my students who gave it a big thumbs up)

Geoffrey Walton's answer to What is the best way to impress a girl?Eight and a half years, and two sons, later I was sitting on the living room floor with my laptop. I was trying to orchestrate a two-day trip to Disneyland for us on my birthday. It was Saturday morning; the boys were building some new Lego creation.I got an email from Wells Fargo Bank, nothing new about that. But the subject was "Statement Address Change," and that was new.I read the email and asked Christie if she had made any changes to the checking account. Wells seemed to think the statements were supposed to go to a PO box in La Jolla. She replied that she had opened new account for herself, and one for each of the boys. I laughed, thanked her, and told her I planned to do the same thing, but hadn't gotten to it yet.Then it hit me! I asked her why she'd made the statement address a PO box in La Jolla. She said, "It's Ed's." I asked why, and her eyes filled. She said "I didn't want you to find out like this." Then it really hit me; my world collapsed. The day before, over lunch, I had told friends how blessed I was to have a wife like Christie and a marriage which could survive the stress of the last two years. I had just found out I was wrong, I had neither.That was 09/17/11. On the previous Father's Day I invited Ed, an old friend, to our home for brunch. He was in San Diego, to start a new job, and his family was in Florida. I didn't want him to be sad and alone. I don't know when their affair started. I didn't see it coming, I never learned the reason - if there was one. We tried to reconcile, but she said, "I don't want to do this; I love him. I want a divorce."Today is 1/19/14. We are divorced and they are married. The boys live with me by choice, but see their mother almost daily. The other day, I was complaining about something to my brother. He asked, "Would you rather be him, with her, or you, with your sons?" "Me, with the boys, of course,"I snapped. He smiled and replied, "Then shut up, you got what you want." My brother is a lot smarter than I am.

One method I have used in the past is to use a credit card like a checking account. With the statement closing date in mind, record all of your credit card purchases in your CHECKING ACCOUNT ledger. This way, you're making use of your credit account, claiming the maximum benefit from any rewards points or cash back programs, all the while spending only the money available to you in your liquidatable operating account. Heck, I pay my utility bills on Amex so I can soak up those rewards points. Then, before statement closing date, reconcile your accounts and transfer the balance in full from your checking to your credit account.It might be wise to carry a small percentage of your credit limit from month to trick your credit card company into thinking that some day, just maybe, they'll make a couple cents in interest fees from you.