As many of you know, I am a creature of habit. Sometimes, even when that habit no longer has any benefit, I still find myself clinging to it out of familiarity. No real shocker there.

I have always kept a physical, normal, from the bank register in my checkbook. Even as we moved into the Quicken/MS Money era of banking many years ago; I maintained my register...to the penny.

So for several years now we have had dual reconciling. David online and I with the hp calculator, a sharp pencil, and my register. Due to our rather sketchy reconciling, (think quarterly or biannually rather than monthly) my checkbook is continually a disaster and the thought of balancing it puts me into warp mode with excuses. The checkbook? Tonight? Oh! Not tonight! I must buff the brass lamps or make taffeta collars for the neighbor's dogs! Really!

One night this week we were actually trying to reconcile the account from ahem June, when I hit my limit. "Is it really helpful for me to write all of this down when you have it right there in front of you on Quicken?" I say to David. (note: My oh-so-patient-with-me husband has never once tried to force me to give up my precious little paper register. We have always simply reconciled side by side each using our preferred medium.)

"No." He answered simply and looked at me with a twinkling grin.

"I quit!" "That's it!" "I 'm done!" I replied and tossed the register on the table. He wisely suggested that I might want to at least write the balance in each month and so I did.

It feels good to be free.

That's so great! I can see that grin! Congratulations on your new freedom Steph!