My wife normally pays the bills, but a few weeks ago I paid two bills by mail. Well, I failed to sign one check, and received a call and then rectified the matter. My wife, of course, shook her head on a failure to sign the check. She likes shaking her head, which makes me think she likes to exercise her neck. The problem with filling out the check was that the address was on the part of the bill to return with payment, so as I was filling out the check I figured I better address the envelope before I would mistakenly seal before addressing the envelope.
Anyway, for every error there may be a bright side. My error got her thinking that I would not know what to do if she passed away or became incapacitated. Almost all our bills are paid on-line through the bank. When she asked what I would do, I said I could send the payment in the old fashioned way by check. I also would not be adverse to going to the bank to make deposits to checking from savings rather than also doing that on-line. She did not find that a sufficient response. She got out a pen and paper, and wrote down the directions for on-line bill paying. She then said the big test will come in the next month when she will have me pay all the bills. The thing about on-line paying, I suspect, is that the software program will tell you if you forgot a step, which is not available for accomplishing payments the old fashioned way. The old fashioned way has no double check.
A relative of mine, who recently retired, paid a bill on-line a week or so ago, and got somewhat of an earful from his still working spouse when she found out that he had paid the invoice. She thought he was poised to take all bill paying away from her. She was not, as it turns out, ready to give up paying bills,. She wrestled it back from her MBA degree husband.
I think it became clear early on in my marriage who would handle the bill paying. She would never have trusted me to pay the bills since I was a person who once in a great while would balance a check book. My wife, being financially fastidious balanced a checkbook every month. I wonder if on-line bill paying has made balancing your accounts easier? Would not the account, if you tried to pay on-line now tell you if you had insufficient funds? Even the copy machine at the library will tell you if you have insufficient funds for the number of copies you wish to make. It is not like I am fully a Luddite.
When I still worked, my last year or so of work involved obtaining purchase orders and paying invoices through internal software that was under control of the Finance Department. It was not an easy program to use. I paid small bills for office supplies, and paid large invoices in the several hundred thousand to perhaps over one million dollar range for building projects I managed. Of course, I did not have to balance the checkbook, but I needed to keep track of all expenditures and where they sat in terms of monies allocated.
There are also funny stories. About a decade ago we went to a wedding in Chippewa Falls, WI. On the way back I stopped for gas at a Love's travel stop on the interstate, near Oakdale, just south of where the "I divides". I guess it was a several weeks later when I get home from work and my wife questions me right away about what I bought at a place called Love's. You can use your imagination to think what I thought she thought. Taken aback by the veracity of her question, I asked the date. it was then that I realized WE (all four of us actually) had stopped at the Love's gas station on the interstate back from a wedding (on her side of the family). She calmed down after that.
Anyway, other than the two bills I paid a few weeks ago, I think most all other of our bills are paid on-line. Some we may get in the mail, while others are sent by email. The thing I have found out about technology is that often one needs to continually use it so it makes sense. I recall having worked with ESRI Geographic Information System Programs (GIS), but as we hired an additional staff person they were well versed in GIS so most GIS work was done by that person. It became difficult for me to then recall all of the ins and outs of GIS if I wanted to use the program after not having used it for several weeks.
When, in a couple weeks time, it is my turn to pay the bills, I will follow her instructions and I have no doubt she will be nearby to watch over my every effort. Then I will, unlike my relative's wife, be glad to not have to pay the bills. What is rather ironic is that we just watched an episode of the former television show "Everybody Loves Raymond." In that episode Raymond takes over bill paying and finds himself overdrawn by $3,000. To show how well he is doing, he even creates a second ledger. He then blames Debra, when talking to his brother and parents, by saying she cannot keep a check book. As she goes to the bank to get some money he tries to get to an ATM to deposit a loan from his family, but a series of funny events transpires. At the end of the episode Debra is trying to balance the account and it is not working. Raymond pulls out a third ledger he used when he screwed up on the second one. I know what my wife was thinking, that is how it would be if my job was to pay the bills and balance the checkbook.
Anyway, for every error there may be a bright side. My error got her thinking that I would not know what to do if she passed away or became incapacitated. Almost all our bills are paid on-line through the bank. When she asked what I would do, I said I could send the payment in the old fashioned way by check. I also would not be adverse to going to the bank to make deposits to checking from savings rather than also doing that on-line. She did not find that a sufficient response. She got out a pen and paper, and wrote down the directions for on-line bill paying. She then said the big test will come in the next month when she will have me pay all the bills. The thing about on-line paying, I suspect, is that the software program will tell you if you forgot a step, which is not available for accomplishing payments the old fashioned way. The old fashioned way has no double check.
A relative of mine, who recently retired, paid a bill on-line a week or so ago, and got somewhat of an earful from his still working spouse when she found out that he had paid the invoice. She thought he was poised to take all bill paying away from her. She was not, as it turns out, ready to give up paying bills,. She wrestled it back from her MBA degree husband.
I think it became clear early on in my marriage who would handle the bill paying. She would never have trusted me to pay the bills since I was a person who once in a great while would balance a check book. My wife, being financially fastidious balanced a checkbook every month. I wonder if on-line bill paying has made balancing your accounts easier? Would not the account, if you tried to pay on-line now tell you if you had insufficient funds? Even the copy machine at the library will tell you if you have insufficient funds for the number of copies you wish to make. It is not like I am fully a Luddite.
When I still worked, my last year or so of work involved obtaining purchase orders and paying invoices through internal software that was under control of the Finance Department. It was not an easy program to use. I paid small bills for office supplies, and paid large invoices in the several hundred thousand to perhaps over one million dollar range for building projects I managed. Of course, I did not have to balance the checkbook, but I needed to keep track of all expenditures and where they sat in terms of monies allocated.
There are also funny stories. About a decade ago we went to a wedding in Chippewa Falls, WI. On the way back I stopped for gas at a Love's travel stop on the interstate, near Oakdale, just south of where the "I divides". I guess it was a several weeks later when I get home from work and my wife questions me right away about what I bought at a place called Love's. You can use your imagination to think what I thought she thought. Taken aback by the veracity of her question, I asked the date. it was then that I realized WE (all four of us actually) had stopped at the Love's gas station on the interstate back from a wedding (on her side of the family). She calmed down after that.
Anyway, other than the two bills I paid a few weeks ago, I think most all other of our bills are paid on-line. Some we may get in the mail, while others are sent by email. The thing I have found out about technology is that often one needs to continually use it so it makes sense. I recall having worked with ESRI Geographic Information System Programs (GIS), but as we hired an additional staff person they were well versed in GIS so most GIS work was done by that person. It became difficult for me to then recall all of the ins and outs of GIS if I wanted to use the program after not having used it for several weeks.
When, in a couple weeks time, it is my turn to pay the bills, I will follow her instructions and I have no doubt she will be nearby to watch over my every effort. Then I will, unlike my relative's wife, be glad to not have to pay the bills. What is rather ironic is that we just watched an episode of the former television show "Everybody Loves Raymond." In that episode Raymond takes over bill paying and finds himself overdrawn by $3,000. To show how well he is doing, he even creates a second ledger. He then blames Debra, when talking to his brother and parents, by saying she cannot keep a check book. As she goes to the bank to get some money he tries to get to an ATM to deposit a loan from his family, but a series of funny events transpires. At the end of the episode Debra is trying to balance the account and it is not working. Raymond pulls out a third ledger he used when he screwed up on the second one. I know what my wife was thinking, that is how it would be if my job was to pay the bills and balance the checkbook.
Good luck with next month's bills from your MBA degree holding relative:)
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