Double checking accounts - ADD godsend | ADHD Information

I thought I would share a financial advisor shared with me when I explained my delimia.

You see the problem was that I could never keep my checkbooks in order, I was always bouncing checks. Not because I didn't know my money, it was just I kept forgeting to deduct a check that hadn't cleared when I used my debt card that was attached to my checking account. So I would check my balance, it would say 0, I would say cool, and spend 0, not realizing a check three weeks ago for 0 hadn't cleared yet. Then I would get all these horrible overdraft charges and stuff. I was just no good in keeping track of when checks cleared, how much money I really had. Then you compound this with the fact my wife was also withdrawing money and you see my issue. so My checkbook was a train wreck I couldn't control.

But this wonderful person had a fix for me, since checking accounts are free at many banks, she told me to open up another. This she said would be my holding account(where money goes waiting for checks to clear), and it would be the only account I would have checks for. So when I wrote a check, I would go online and move that amount of money from my primary checking to the holding account, and then mail the check and forget it. Since my paycheck gets deposited in my primary, it became easy. I write a check for 0 dollars, I move 0 dollars over and forget it. Now when I check my debit card, I see what cash I really have, because any checks I write have already been removed.

It works well for my ADD brain..

THough on an important note..

You can only have checks for one account, the holding account, if you don't you will mess yourself up.

You need online banking to really make this work.

You can't have a debit card that has access to the holding account, it defeats the purpose.

it worked for me, just a thought, helped allot.

I really need to get a cheque book.

I got an application form from my bank, filled it out, signed it, did everything.

That was 4 years ago and it is still sitting in my desk waiting to be sent to the bank.

Now it's all crumpled and dirty, so I'll have to do a new one anyway.

That's a good idea!

Want to hear something really freaky and creepy??? My check book looked so sloppy and a mess. However, and this is what I just don't often understand, I can't keep track of phone numbers and even have to stop to think about mine occasionally, if you can believe that one, however, I started rounding it off always going plus instead of minus the round off to give the account the advantage, and I no longer keep written track of deductions or additions to it. I do it all in my head (GULP), however, I'm the only one on the account and it's not as easy with a joint account I suppose.


Once I started going over it in my head, I had less room for error and to this day it is freaky to me. I will also say that probably once a month I stop by the back just to have them tell me what my balance is and the number of the last check that went through just to make sure I'm doing ok.


I use to not always be on time with mailing out bills but once I got a wall calander and put the name on each day to where a bill was to be mailed, leaving me at least three days play in there, I put a stop to that too. On top of that, most places that you have bills to pay off can often send a notice of time to pay to your email now. So, it's a double whammy to remind me.

(My key board is all sticky and gross....kids must have been here)....maybe I have a touch of Rainman in me.Debit is wonderful, as are "auto pay" bills.  It was a bit of a shock to me moving to the US that I had to go back to using checks for some things, because there is absolutely no way I can balance a checkbook.  I don't even try, just pay a bit extra for overdraft protection

I don't use cheques* these days, I always got into a mess with them.  A debit card and an internet banking account usually keeps me out of trouble.

*I'm English, and that's how we spell it here... it's French, I know - but blame the Normans for that.

Mark -