Just Checking...

Pook and I have been married  a long time - 12 1/2 years. We both had been married before and had children we were raising. Money was tight and sometimes, I swear you could hear George Washington cry in pain... we were THAT tight. We had modest jobs, working our way to a raise every chance we could, as our eyes glazed over at the debt we both brought into our marriage. Not that we had poor credit or had been irresponsible with money, but sometimes it's just easier to take mounds of previous debt with you when you leave a bad relationship, than to bicker over it and prolong the end. Just sayin'.

Before we said "I Do" I only had 3 conditions...(1) I won't take out the garbage (hell, there were 3 guys in the house to do it), (2) I won't do yard work (I'd watch from the cool inside and take him ice water, though), and (3) I won't handle the checkbook! Now... we were both adults and both had been soley responsible for all three of those 'conditions', that's why I could stand there, tap my foot and say "not gonna do it"! Since then, I've 'helped" with the yard work - if only as a distraction (*wink*...remember that Honey??), I've hauled out the garbage more times than I wanted (the boys were just too damn lazy sometimes when Rich would travel for work - or when he went on "house strike" for almost 2 years). The house strike meant I had to do ALL of the laundry, cooking, cleaning and garbage - it was a very dark time! Lots of hallway sex! (You know the pass in the hallway and say "F-U" .. no "F-U") . It wasn't pretty!

On to #3 - I won't handle the checkbook!  I damn well meant that. There was this one (brief) time when we shared a checking account that Pook decided to let me handle the accounts. I probably could've and would've done it, had I not been pissed about it and he had not acted like a nervous-nelly and hounded me about "did you pay this, pay that? how much do we have left....". It didn't take us long to go to our own financial corners with individual bank accounts in hand. I've been happier and financially oblivious all these years. Pook got half of my pay to do "whatever he needed to do" and I got the other half to do "whatever". However, I had to pay for my gas and household groceries, and anything that I wanted to buy. He paid the bills and managed the household budget. Pure bliss to be in the "Un-know"!

A week ago last night, as Pook and I sat in our lovely hotel room to share our last night together, he gives me something so sacred and overwhelming - and then he gave me the files to the bank account! LOLOLOL. He gave me the Holy Grail of banking - our joint bank account files and password! Anyone that knows my husband can totally agree with me on this - this was a major step - only Uncle Sam and the effing deployment could pry this out of his grasp! (can I get an AMEN). Now, Rich is the Excel King - he rocks a spreadsheet like no one I've ever seen! He will spreadsheet A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G! (He probably ran a spreadsheet on marrying me - fortunately the numbers came up favorable).

So, I mention to Pook the other night that I transferred $XX out of his checking (which is actually our joint checking) to my checking so I can pay his dental bill. (It's HIS bill... see how this works?I could've paid it out of his account but I have no idea where his check book is). Pook: "Cool, I'll update my spreadsheet that I have". Uh, yeah... I'll do that too. Me: "You have a spreadhseet, too? Pook: Yeah, I have a copy so we can both make sure we are running the same numbers."WTH? He actually expects me to update the Holy Grail! Seriously? I don't even keep a checkbook register but I can tell you to the dime how much is in my account. Pook: "Oh, don't forget to add the deposits to the register". Got it!! Crap!

So, today I sat down to open up the password protected mega Excel spreadsheet. I wish I could show it to you! There are 7 tabs of data! 7! On the check register there are 7 columns, ranging from transaction code, date, description, payments, code (I have no idea what "code" means- there are only "Xs" in the column), Dep/Cred, Balance. I'm supposed to keep this updated! Hmmmm.... after looking at his method of madness for about 10 minutes, I went in and successfully entered the transfer (his bill) and recent deposits. Had to cross-reference that with the online bank statement to make sure I'm to the penny. Hot damn - I was! Fortunately, we don't have the debt we used to have, and the few things we do have is set up on auto-pay.. so I'll just have to update deposits and maybe a transfer here or there if needed - but for A YEAR!!!  Is he crazy trusting or what? I much prefer working with smaller numbers; say, like in my account!

Now, I honestly know how to manage a household, a budget and a check book! I have done this more years that probably most of my followers have been alive - it's just that I hate to do it! I hate the details and the numbers! I'm not above the task...it will get done... but I still don't wanna do it! :o)

He cracks me up!

Peace, Love & Happy Deposits!!