“Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.”
— Proverbs 27:23-24
A key component to being a Good Steward is to keep a watchful eye on your money, and this goes beyond the usual lecture about keeping to your own budget. A few weeks ago, my bank charged me a $31 overdraft fee, which was a bit of a surprise, since my account was never actually overdrawn. I had been keeping an eye on my cash flow because our current budget was right between one big bill and a mortgage payment with a paycheck in-between, so this sudden $31 charge caught me off guard.
The cause was fairly simple. I’d used my bank’s bill pay service to pay for our lawn sprinkler’s winterization, and for some reason, our bank had decided to pay our bill several days before the date I’d requested. The check was actually presented the night before my paycheck was supposed to be direct-deposited into the account, which cause the overdraft. After a brief chat with a teller, I was able to get her to reverse the fee without much of a fight, but it could have been much worse. I could have had checks bouncing every which way and multiple overdraft fees popping up on my debit card, had I chosen to use it. Fortunately, I’d been keeping a close enough watch on my bank account balance to keep this problem for going much further.
So what’s the lesson here? Keep a watchful eye on your money, and leave plenty of “wiggle room” in the date when using your bank’s bill pay service. It’s very convenient to go online and have your bank send out a check instead of writing it out by hand (and using your own stamps), but I’ve learned that my own bank has absolutely no idea when a bill might be paid. They might not send out a payment until after the due date you set, meaning your payment might be late. Or they might send it out early before you have the funds in your account to pay it. In either case, leave a cushion, both in the time you need to pay the bill and the funds you need to pay it. It’s better to have room to breathe than to live on the edge.