Can The Average Joe Save Money Without A Checking Account?

The story comes from the Yahoo contributor network, so it is a first-person "here is my story" article.  Like you, Ken, I hope this type of thinking is not representative of how the average American handles a checkbook, but suspect it may be more common than we believe.   What a sorry state of affairs. 

There have been many lively discussions on this forum about our country's education system and the fact that many people can't do simple math without a calculator. The author of the article sounds like she can do the math ("Instead of spending around $750 a year on overdrafts, we can comfortably spend the $36 fee to keep the Visa") but may lack either the discipline or confidence to keep the check register updated.

If the person can't handle a checking account, then at least going to what amounts to cash-only (aside from the $36 annual expense for the Walmart VISA) is preferable.    I shudder to think how they handle other financial obligations, though. 

I guess like not every student is destined to go to college (all the bullcrap of the No Child Left Behind Act), not everybody seems to be able to handle a checking account - maybe they shouldn't...

I have never had to pay Overdraft or any other checking account fees.  However, our checking account was my biggest headache each month because I would always be out of balance by just a few pennies.  It meant readding all the figures with my adding machine and always finding the error but a great aggravation until I finally realized what my problem was.  It had nothing to do with lack of education because I have handled all manner of tax forms, book keeping and accounting all my life without a problem.  However, I had a habit of scribbling all the figures in my checkbook and my fives and threes looked alike and caused me to add figures incorrectly.  Now I have tried to write much neater in my checkbook and I hope to eliminate the problem.  No matter how much education we have, if we don't pay attention to writing the figures clearly in the pad, we can have mathematical errors.  I have been fortunate that my errors were always in the "pennies" so I never got overdrawn and had to pay any fees.

I never use a checkbook - how antiquated! Excel spreadsheet is the way to go: faster, more accurate and the 3s and 5s are different enough;-)

I neither write checks nor use ATM machines. My rent is paid through bill pay. For just about everything else I primarily use reward checking debit cards (as credit cards) or occasionally credit cards when I can get 5% cash back. For my minimal cash needs I get cash back at grocery stores. I never have less than $10,000 in any account so overdrafts are never a problem.

And I regularly follow my accounts online, so I don't keep any written check tallies or spreadsheets of my individual expenses. Once a month I fill out a simple spreadsheet totaling each of my accounts so that I can keep track of my net worth.