Close the month

Once a month, check the book against the till.

Closing the month is the third habit of keeping account, and the one that makes the other two worth doing. You check that your record still matches what is really there, fix what doesn’t, and draw a line. Then the next month starts clean.

Why close at all

A record that is never checked slowly stops being true.

Every record drifts. Cash you spent and forgot. A payment that came from an account you don’t track. A little interest here, a fee there. Each gap is small, but they add up month after month, until the numbers in front of you no longer match the money you actually have, and you stop trusting them.

A close is the fix. Once a month you compare the record with reality, account by account. Where they agree, you move on. Where they don’t, the difference is written down, so nothing is hidden and nothing is guessed.

Businesses do this for the same reason. A shop owner who counts the till at the end of every month knows the shop’s real position. One who never counts it only has a feeling.

How a close goes

Four steps, once a month.

1
Check your balances. For each account, does the amount you have really match the record? The bank, savings, the cash at home.
2
Write down the gap. If a number is different, the difference is recorded on its own, dated, as money the record didn’t see. Nothing before it is rewritten.
3
Look at the month. Where it went, what came in, and what moved your net worth up or down.
4
Draw the line. The month is closed and kept as it stood. The next one starts from a number you know is true.

With Jijenga

You check. Jijenga does the counting and the writing up.

1
You
Say whether each balance still matches, or put in the real number.
Jijenga
Counts everything that came in and went out since you last checked, so you only confirm the result.
2
You
Nothing extra. A gap needs no explaining.
Jijenga
Records any difference as money it couldn’t see, dated, without touching the past.
3
You
Close the month.
Jijenga
Keeps the month as it stood and starts the next one clean.
4
You
Read your month.
Jijenga
Writes it up for you: where it went, where you stand, and one thing to do next.

Late is fine. A month you didn’t close on time can still be closed later.

What it builds

One true number, month after month.

Each closed month leaves one number behind: what you had, minus what you owed, on the day you closed it. Put those numbers side by side and you can see the direction your money is really going, not the feeling of it.

An example: one person’s net worth over 11 closed monthsEach square is a closed month

A line like that only means something if every point on it was checked. That is what the close is for.

More in plain words: What does “closing the month” mean?

Start with last month.

One month is enough to see where it went. Your first week is free.

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1
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2
Add last monthAdd last month, from a statement or by typing.
3
See where it wentSee where it went, and what you're worth.

September

What you're worth

163,420

+32,020 over 11 months