Daily Tip: Be careful when being generous

Today I was charged 30 dollars for a 4 dollar overdraft at the bank.  I thought those days were behind me, but apparantly the way the bank I deal with doesn't care about disenchanting me by whomping me with the overdraft fee. 
Guess who is closing that bank account as soon as she can?  Me.  My gripe lies in the fact that their computer banking system is slow, and to me it feels as if they cheated me because I knew my funds were low, but the overdraft was not evident on my online account when I checked it yesterday. 
Why did I take out too much? 
I was trying to be generous. 
I was trying to buy our fuel for the past month, to help with the household expenses. 
We heat with corn stove fuel and everytime I go to buy it at the United Farmers Cooperative they only accept checks, so I write checks from my business account. 
I don't balance my checkbook, of course, because the detailed work is too cumbersome for a person who has A.D.H.D, that is, for me at least.
Well, I drove to the bank first thing this morning and put in monies to cover the overdraft, monies from a tuition check I received from one of my music students last week, and the paycheck I got from my radio job on Feb. 15th. 
That is another thing I fail to do very often, deposit checks. 
I get checks but I wait for them to pile up before I take them to the bank. 
You may wish you had that problem, but the checks arn't that big, and my employer has been promising direct deposit, but it has failed to materialize.
Money problems have to do with the organizational habits one strives to cultivate.  For me, I try to keep myself solvent by not racking up consumer debt through credit card use.  Nevertheless, if you do not balance your checkbook you may wind up in deep doo-doo, like I did: 
Flushing 30 dollars down the toilet in addition to the 4 dollar overdraft!
So before you write that check to be generous, be careful, you should have sufficient funds to cover it.
Or if you don't, you should have sufficient funds to make good on the overdraft and the overdraft fee!
My daily gratitude is regarding self-employment.  I am grateful to have a home-based business as a music teacher, it helps keeps me to feel good about myself while I educate others.  And it makes me tidy my home and it keep it nice for company, and it continues to nourish me in the field wherein lies my interest, that of music, and it nurtures my artistic ambitions, and entertains me as well, because music is fun!
Regarding money, I know that I need to care more for my income by managing it better, and monitoring it better.
I have a lot of cleaning to do now, since I have company coming over tonight.
Til tomorrow,
Stay happy.
Amy Zents
© Amalia Zents 2010