I just spent the last 3 hours balancing my checkbook. Why did it take so long? Well, because I had not done it since May. Why not? Well, I suppose it was a combination of lack of time and terror of finding out that I was one paycheck away from being on the street.

I do not recommend this as a standard financial practice. It’s better to know. Although there were some times that I think if I knew how close I was, I’d have been under even more stress than I was.

Amazingly, everything came out just fine, and everything was balanced and accounted for.