1. Planning 10 Learning Guide 15 Money Management Chequing Accounts Click for next Watch this corner for prompts on when you are expected to click the mouse button.

2. Chequing Accounts Step 1 Keeping track of my own balance (also known as “how much money do I think I have?”) Click for next

3. Cheque Register A “cheque register” is just a book that the bank will give you when you open your chequing account. Every single time you put money into your account, or take money out of your account (no matter what the method…ATM, cheque, debit card), you make a note in your cheque register. Keep in mind that your cheque register is a permanent long term (years and years) record of your bank account activity. Always make enough notes in your register so that you can look back 1, 2 or even 3 years later and know exactly what happened with any particular transaction. Click for next

4. If this is a new account, enter the amount with which you opened the account. If this is just a new page, enter the last figure of the previous page “Balance” column. The very first entry of each page is the “balance forward”. Click for next

5. On May 26, you start a new page in your cheque register. The last figure from the “Balance” column of the previous page was $527.96, so you carry that figure forward to start this page: Click for next

6. You write cheque # 107 (numbers are preprinted on your cheques). You did this on May 27, it’s for your rent, and the amount is $226.00: Each time you take money out (debit) your account, you subtract the amount from the last figure of the “Balance” column (527.96), put the result on the same line in the “Balance” column. In this case: 527.96 - 226.00 =301.96 Click for next

7. You use your debit card on May 28 at the Food Mart to purchase $22.52 worth of food, so your new balance is $279.44: Click for next

8. You write a cheque (#108) on June 1 to Gateway Motors for a car payment of $156.32, leaving you a balance of $123.12: Click for next

9. Immediately after writing cheque #108 (you ALWAYS write cheques and cheque register entries in ink), you realize you made a mistake…you wrote it for $156.32, but it should have been for $165.32. Keeping in mind that if we just erase the line, we could look back months or years later and wonder what actually happened to cheque # 108. Therefore, we enter a VOID line instead of erasing the line. NEVER erase a line in your cheque register, just put in a “balancing” transaction with a note! The balancing transaction could be on the next line, or pages later…it doesn’t matter, as long as you write a good note so you know what happened! The “balancing” transaction is just a “deposit” for the same amount as the erroneous cheque. That essentially adds the amount back into your bank account and brings the balance back to where it should be (you literally tore the wrong cheque into little pieces and threw them away, so the cheque never got processed.) Oh, oh…made a mistake... Click for next

10. Noticing your error, you enter a balancing transaction for the same amount (be sure you write good notes) and then tear up the cheque. Your new balance is the same as it was before you wrote that wrong amount cheque: You have now successfully “voided” a transaction…your bank balance is like you never made a mistake! Click for next

11. Now you write cheque # 109 to replace that erroneous cheque # 108. It’s still June 1, to Gateway Motors, this time for $165.32, and your new balance is $114.12 Click for next

12. Now you write cheque # 110 on June 2 to the phone company. The amount is $62.77, so your new balance is $51.35. Click for next

13. You used your ATM card on June 2, to withdraw $20.00 Click for next

14. Okay, your balance is getting pretty low, thank goodness for your paycheque! Make sure that you put the entry in the correct column and ADD (credit) the amount to your balance. Click for next