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Friday, April 10, 2009

Mathematically Challenged

Written by Annie

In these really crummy economic times, it is quite important to keep close tabs on all of your accounts and keep your money in check. I'm happy to say, that even though I shop like a pro, I also am a very good shopper in the sense my nose seems to always score the best deals. However, when it comes time to recording those deals in the checkbook, I fall short. Why?


I stink at math.


And I don't mean that it isn't my strong suit. I mean I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader on the subject of mathematics (OK, it would be close). My one saving grace? I'm just fortunate enough that my husband works enough to cover up my screw ups!

You see, I do all the bills and checkbook balancing ( if you can call it that) at my house. Why I do this I have no idea (other than he doesn't believe in balancing). I stopped taking math classes in high school as soon as it was allowed (so I could take Shop and be the only chick) and in college I waited to take all 3 math courses until my senior year. That made a 5 year gap in between math classes. It was not a pretty thing, although one of my tutors was!



Now, my husband is a math genius. I mean that literally. He has a bachelors in accounting, a masters in tax, and is a CPA. Oh, and he does numbers for a multi-million dollar company. Yet, every time my sorry ass attempts to use my Microsoft Money to balance or record our credit and debits, I am OFF.


Every single time.


I have NEVER been correct.


Sometimes it is just a few dollars (I blame this on the DEBIT CARD and not writing anything down) and once it was off by 4-FOUR-thousand dollars. You read that right. $4,000. 4 G's. 4 K. 4 big ones. How I never bounced a check, I will never know. And, really! What the heck?!?!? Did I buy a dining room set and forget about it? Granted, it had been 6 months since the last balance, but still!

After that alarming ERROR, I started doing it a couple times a month and employing the use of online banking to keep my errors under quadruple digits.

Some JOBS in the home should NOT go to me, even if I do EVERYTHING else brilliantly!



So, there you have it. You know my fault. My downfall. The big FAILURE in my persona. Math.

But the better question is, is the right person doing bills in your house?

Signing off,

(needs an accountant other than her husband)

16 comments:

  1. See.. you are using Microsoft money ALL WRONG! You simply nee to download from the bank.. cross out whatever you may have in your checkbook and BOOM! You match the bank every damn time!
    Works for me :;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL I have this same problem, only it's worse! I used to be an accountant LOL

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  3. My husband and I have separate checking accounts because he scares me with his nonchalant attitude toward balancing a checkbook. We just split the bills. It probably isn't even but it works for us.

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  4. LOL..Annie i stink at math so mr gp does all our bills and balances AND more important ALL the Math homework the beanies bring home

    ReplyDelete
  5. People still balance checkbooks? ;-)

    I go by what the bank says. In this day and age, that probably isn't too smart.

    My Hubs - in finance. I pay the bills, because it would be "we spent ? on ?!!!?!!??!"

    Yes darling, the children do need to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My husband asked me the other day if I'd written down his most recent debit card transactions.

    I snorted and said..."you're cute."

    I think that scared him. But, I figure he can deal with my mistakes, or he can take care of it himself...which he does NOT want to do.

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  7. Excel is my saving grace. I have a habit of transposing numbers - it is NOT pretty. I use Terry Rigg's Bill Management System.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I do our checkbook because if I didn't, well, it would never get done. If it weren't for online banking and Quicken, however, I would lose my mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i pay the bills and am definitely the "less wrong" person for the job. my hubs has no concept of $, which is partly due to him never having had to sit down and figure it out on his own. lord help him if something ever happens to me.

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  10. Yeah! I have company! :)
    I'll have to try the download frommy bank trick! I just cross check!

    ReplyDelete
  11. We don't balance out checkbook ever.

    I was also born without the "math gene".

    In college, we took out math tests in a "testing center" for some reason instead of the classroom.

    Well, needless to say, thanks Barb for getting me a "C" in those classes! She was such a good friend...only $10 per test *sigh* what a great friend! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't balance anything...I just make sure I don't put tooooo much money in my man's account (I use it too..shhh). Only because men waayyy spend more than the ladies on ?????. Then when he says did you pay this or that I scare him & say that was his job knowing he has in his account.

    It works for us. But I still hate math too.

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  13. sorry side note...he has NOTHING in his account :)

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  14. Oh Annie - right before we got married the priest called us in to his chambers (do priests have chambers?) and he told us "The only thing you need to worry about in your marriage is WHO is gonna handle the money. If you can figure that out, you'll most likely make it."

    Or something along those lines....

    So...it was decided. The money is all me. And although I don't love it, I'm pretty decent at handling the balancing of things and if it wasn't for me, most of our bills would be late.

    Okay ALL of the bills would be. :-)

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  15. I don't think our checkbook has "balanced" in 20 years. We use the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in our house. But I've never bounced a check so my method of checking the account often has worked so far. knock on wood.

    That's your major downfall?! : ) I had to have my husband help my SECOND GRADER with his math!

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  16. Hee! I totally am the same way. I check my balence daily like 4 times just to see if I still have money in MY account. Thank god Rick does OUR account and his. We'd really be screwed...

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