Protect yourself against the possibility of writing bad checks.
The most important thing that you need to do in order to manage your checking account is simple: keep track of all of your transactions. This might be annoying if you end up writing a lot of small checks for small things, but in the end it will definitely be worth it. By writing down each check you write and the amount that they were for, you'll know exactly how much money you have to spend, how much you have spent, and whether or not you can afford what you are buying.
There are a lot of good reasons to know where all of your money is going. However, they are not the only reasons why you should learn how to manage your checking account. Let's say you are not keeping track of the amount of money that is in your checking account. You know that you are getting close to the end of your money, due to it being near the end of the month, but you're not entirely sure. Therefore, you write your last check - and it bounces. Bounced checks are not only embarrassing, but they will result in a lot of lost money for no reason other than that you were careless. First of all, most establishments will charge you extra fees for bounced checks - and may not allow you to write checks in the future. Second, most banks have hefty overdraft fees - and you don't want to waste your money paying those.
The next thing that you should do if you're trying to learn how to manage your checking account, is to try and make sure that you always have a few hundred dollar buffer in your account. This is not just to pad against overdraft fees and bounced checks, but can actually come in handy. For instance, it's always possible that there could be an emergency situation in which you need some extra money - in which case having extra dollars in your checking account could be a life saver.
When it comes to managing checking accounts, these are really the most important things that you should do. Always make sure that you have extra money in your account - and keep track of your expenses!
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.cashbazar.com. Visit his website for the latest on personal finance, debt elimination, budgeting, credit cards and real estate.
