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Gearing up to start posting new Women Worth Knowing profiles soon.  I have a backlog to work through.  Not a bad problem to have!  If you know a Woman Worth Knowing, though, drop me a note so we can get her spotlight started.

On a completely different topic, I will share the best banking advice I have.

The number one tip I can give is this:  Use a check register to keep track of your balances.

You cannot rely on the balance you pull from the ATM, online banking, or even the teller at the bank.  Why?  Because none of those can see pending transactions that have not yet posted.  You’d think that all Point of Sale systems would be real-time now, but they aren’t, and that can get you into trouble if you’re not careful.

When you make a purchase with your check card, the bank doesn’t automatically know it.  That all depends on the merchant services the business is running, how they turn in their receipts, and how they receive payments from banks.  You could make a purchase at JimBob’s Hardware on May 15, and JimBob might not turn in his receipts for payment until May 23*.

Between May 15 and May 23, you might be spending money based on what the ATM tells you is your available balance, thinking that because you spent $300 at JimBob’s on May 15, the balance you see includes what you paid for those fancy doorknobs.  But, it doesn’t.  Then, on May 23, JimBob turns in his receipts and BLAM!  You are in overdraft, and you owe $35 for every returned item, and possibly more in negative account fees.

You would probably notice a $300 difference, but those $8, $3, $16 transactions will sneak up on you.  A check register is the only way to go, even if that check register is just a piece of scrap paper in your wallet.

Something else to know is how  your bank processes transactions.  For example, my bank processes all deposits first, then processes debits based on date/time, and if no date/time is available, then by amount, lowest to highest.  This is healthier for the customer because if you have $300 in the bank, and you have 4 transactions of $100, $50, $50, and $200, assuming these transactions don’t have date/time stamps, you’ll only get hit with one fee instead of two.

Find out how your deposits are credited, too.

• Cash deposits should net you immediate credit.
• Same bank deposits should net you credit on that business date.
• Outside bank deposits will be subject to collection availability, but should generally net you credit by the next business date.

Same bank deposits should cover any transactions you make on the same day, but won’t guarantee coverage for transactions you made the day before.  That’s the difference between immediate and same day credit.  Immediate credit covers everything that will hit the account that day.  Same day credit covers most everything, but there can be gaps.

A business day is a working day.  Monday through Friday are business days.  Saturday and Sunday are not.  If you bank on a Saturday, you are actually banking on Monday’s business day.

And for the love of pete, don’t yell at tellers.  Maybe that’s my best advice.  Tellers have a very strict set of rules and regulations to follow, and there are swift, severe consequences for failing to meet them.  So, unless you are willing to hire that teller once he/she is fired for breaking the rules to accommodate you, don’t yell at them.

*Obviously this is hypothetical.  It is far likelier that JimBob will cash out sooner than that.

Careless Whisper has come on the radio and suddenly, I am transported back in time to the summer of 1985.  Jamie and I spent most of that summer between DFW Medical Center, where we striped candy, White Water waterpark, and Six Flags Over Texas, where we spent godawful amounts of money, pumping quarters into the video-jukeboxes at the park.  That was the only place we could watch our Duran Duran videos on demand.  And, oh, were we demanding.  We were fourteen.  That was our job.

As I recall, we liked Wham!, but we had a loyalty to uphold, and since Sirs Michael and Ridgely were our preferred band’s main competition, we didn’t carry their pinups in our Trapper Keepers.

I was headed into my Freshman year of high school, hopping from Adams Middle School (where I had made friends of Francine, Becky, Danna, and finally Karen–all of whom are still at least Facebook buddies. Francine and Karen would eventually become my roommates, and still like me even after living with me!  Maybe not immediately after, but eventually, and currently.  I think.) to Ursuline Academy.  Since moving to Texas, halfway through fifth grade, I had already been to three schools.  I would attend two more before graduation. 

That summer of 1985 was the best summer of my childhood.  I only remember being happy that summer.  No.  I remember being happy and having a pair of bright yellow shorts that I thought were the coolest things ever made.

The second best summer was the summer of 1988.  I was 17, had my own car, a boyfriend (or three, but that summer I mainly saw Robert–who busked in the mall for me, to collect the additional $3 I needed to buy a CD.), and Francine was living with us.  Where was I working?  I think that’s the summer I worked at Denny’s.  That summer, my song was Lita Ford’s song, It Ain’t No Big Thing.

My first taxable summer job was at Six Flags Over Texas.  That was the summer of 1987, and Notorious was my theme song.  Then, I got a job at Denny’s.  From Denny’s (while I was obsessed with The Smiths, having a fling with The Cure, and cheating on Duran Duran with U2), I went to work at Express (Berlin was my musical fixation, and John Crawford surpassed my crush on John Taylor), and then to Sears (was listening to Then Jericho at that point, and was in love with Mark Wren.)  Then, when I started college, I decided I needed a more professional gig, and I got a bank job (and started listening to a lot of The The, Nine Inch Nails, and Billie Holiday.)

Don’t Stop Believin’ has come on now.  The very first concert I ever attended (without a parent) was to Journey cover band’s show at the middle school (the second was a Duran Duran show at Six Flags, the summer I worked there.  I remember being alternately scandalized and strangely nervous a/k/a titillated that I could see the outline of Simon LeBon’s underwear through his white pants.  Byron and I convinced the poor morons sitting behind us that we were with the band, and were just slumming it out in the audience for goofs.  Then, Byron got a nosebleed and we had to jet.)  At the Faux Journey Sheaux  I sat in the bleachers with Francine and Becky, and that’s the night my friendship with them gelled.  I remember discussing the merits of Matt Dillon, who was then my number one imaginary celebrity boyfriend.  He would be replaced by John Taylor in the coming year, who would maintain his status until I discovered Rupert Everett.  Me?  Have a type?  Possibly.

It seems like I have a strong memory attached to every song that comes on the radio, but I’ll spare you until Ordinary World comes on.  Then, I’ll regale you with more stories from my first trip to NYC and the David Lynchian twists of that time.

I have been trying to write a post about this for three weeks now, but they keep coming off preachy or self-congratulatory, so I’m just going to state the fact:  I am for marriage equality.