Revelation

Like most people, I would imagine, we are paying for things more and more with our credit/debit card. I've been doing this at the gas station for years. But as time goes on, we find ourselves using that card more often.

One problem I'm starting to have is the whole end-of-the-month checkbook balancing thing. No, this is not a rant about not entering debit purchases into the checkbook. The problem comes in the fact that the day of the purchase doesn't necessarily equate to the "date of transaction" on the paperwork from the bank. Normally this is an inconvenience, but I can usually find that grocery store purchase for $69.73 on or about December 4. Gas, though, is another issue.

Gas is the one thing that I've been pretty much guaranteed a consistent price. Not consistent in the price per gallon (we all know what that's like), but consistent in the fact that I can put $27.00 in the tank, or $32.00, or $30.00, or $Whatever.00. Besides making it easier to subtract from the check register, if I lose the receipt it's no big deal: "I put $30 in the tank today," not, "I put $30-something in the tank." So that's helped. I also like nice, round numbers.

However, with the bank statement not showing the exact day of purchase, and sometimes having multiple purchases from different locations with the same name (in Montana, the majority of gas stations are called Town Pump), it can sometimes be confusing when I have several $30.00 purchases for gas and I wonder which purchase went with which log in the register.

The other day I had a revelation on how to solve this problem.

Since statements come once a month, and since I don't fill the tank on the same day, it occurred to me that I should put as many cents in the tank as is the date. So on December 8, I had to drive to Helena for a meeting. I filled up the tank with $30.08 worth of fuel. Then, after going to Helena and back, and a few other typical Montana trips, I had to fill up again on Wednesday, December 12. So I put $27.12 in the tank.

Now, when I get my bank statement, I will know exactly what charge went with which day.

Little discoveries like that make me feel all giddy inside.