Juggling Finances and Balancing Spreadsheets

All right, so many of you already know my time is quite limited these days. Then again, whose isn't?

My newborn daughter will be 7 weeks old this coming Thursday, and although we're beginning to settle into a routine, it's only the very early stages. That means it's still a work in progress as we both adjust.

However, life doesn't stop to allow time to adjust. My work as treasurer still requires my attention, and since Donna and I just recently balanced our books following our annual ACFW Colorado Retreat, I figured writing about it would suffice for this month. *grins*

If you've meandered through our web site, you'd see the somewhat new PayPal buttons that have been added for the convenience of making payments online instead of having to snail mail them in to us. Our boards thought it would be a fantastic addition and simplify a lot of things. Well, in theory, it would....if it all worked right.

I won't go into all the details, but it took us about 2 months to get our account squared away to the point where we would be allowed to utilize all of the options available to us. The main issue was our not-for-profit status that required scanned documents, not electronic. After many phone calls and emails, we finally got it worked out and our account was restored to full status.

Then, there's the issue of 2 chapters with funds coming into one account and having to be divided so each chapter receives what was designated for them. Since some payments came through PayPal and others through checks, the total funds had to be calculated, then the expenses from each chapter had to be subtracted to determine what was owed where. Add to that the fact that some funds were in 1 bank account and some were in the PayPal account, and then the balance owed had to be delivered via check and PayPal transfer.

When all was said and done, the calculations were checked and double-checked by myself and Donna (the HIS Writers treasurer) and a spreadsheet was provided detailing the summary. Thanks goodness for a system of checks and balances!

I said all of that to say this: the process was confusing enough. But with a newborn and only having snippets of available time, I'm amazed it all came out balanced in the end. So glad everyone else provided excellent records of the costs and expenses and income. Otherwise, the end result might not have been so "balanced." :)

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Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They celebrated the birth of their first child in April and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, a Border Collie/Flat-Haired Retriever mix. She has sold six books so far to Barbour Publishing. Other credits include writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to the books: 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and Grit for the Oyster.

Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.