$16.39 - $4.85 = ??

[roxybisquaint]

You know there was a time where I actually sat down with checkbook and bank statement once a month to reconcile my measely checking account. If I was off by $1.23, I'd actually go back through, recalculate all my checks and deposits and withdrawals and figure out where I'd screwed up. I had an obsessive need to make sure the bottom line in my checkbook was accurate and also that I'd made the mistake and not the bank. Thank God those days are over.

I don't have to care about $1.23 anymore (can you even imagine?) and I haven't kept up a checkbook in years. There's just no need. All my finances are online through the bank. I very rarely even write checks (usually just when some neighborhood kid comes around selling fundraiser stuff). I don't get receipts at the bank machine. I never use a debit card (I stick everything on a credit card and pay it at the end of the month). I don't bother to track my money at all. When it's time to pay bills, I log in and see what I've got. And thanks to overdraft protection, I don't even have to forecast ahead to make sure there will be enough money in checking for when bills are scheduled to be paid. If there's not enough, the bank automatically transfers it over from savings. Simple.

Or maybe it's too simple. Maybe this is why I suck at math now.

Comments

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

I'm completely with you on this. I write one check a month -- for rent. Everything is automatically deducted from my checking account for me.

Before long we'll just be informed 'you are now eligible for a nicer car, please click here to upgrade -- click cancel to save your upgrade points to add nicer carpeting to your bedroom instead'.

And then Skynet is born and we're all fucked.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Before long we'll just be informed 'you are now eligible for a nicer car, please click here to upgrade

I don't think you're far off the mark with that prediction.

And then Skynet is born and we're all fucked.

Indeed. It actually took me years to trust online banking enough to not keep track of my money myself anymore. I used to worry about what would happen if the computers crashed or they got hacked and all my balances were lost. I got over that fear long ago, but once Skynet takes over, it might just decide to fuck up the banks instead of dropping the bombs ;)

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

it might just decide to fuck up the banks instead of dropping the bombs ;)

That's when I say fuck it and just go to my parent's farm up in Indiana (outside Ft Wayne) and deal with things up there.

[the-narration.livejournal.com]

Another one here who only uses checks anymore for rent. And I haven't used the balance ledger in my checkbook for years, not when the bank's website can give me my up-to-date balance. I've lived pretty close to the edge at times, but for the most part I'm not so poor that I need to watch every dollar I spend.

Graphing calculators were spoiling me for doing math by hand as far back as high school, but I still do the odd bit of number crunching in my head or on paper (and no, not just totalling attack and damage rolls in RPGs) so I like to think I haven't completely lost the knack.

....I think I might have forgotten how to do calculus, tho.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

I never learned how to do calculus in the first place, so that's one less thing I have to worry about forgetting ;)

[the-narration.livejournal.com]

Heh. True enough, I suppose. Me, I was an astrophysics major, once upon a time, but it seems like I lose a bit more of it every day. Six or seven years ago I could do calculus in three dimensions, and now it's all just a blur.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Astrophysics? Shouldn't you be hanging out at the VLA or something instead of patrolling buildings?

[the-narration.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I probably should. But I... haven't finished getting my degree yet. Ran short of money because of the absurd price of out-of-state tuition these days, and hit a bit of an emotional brick wall besides. I was planning to go back after a year of working to establish residency. That was two years ago.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Hey, it took me 12 years just to get my undergrad degree and money wasn't the only thing holding me up. By the time I got it, it was useless for me (actually it would have been useless anyway), but damn it, I was going to finish that degree! And it felt really good when I did. I hope you eventually get to go back and finish yours. Even if you never decide to pursue a career path with it, it would be satisfying to complete it.