It can be stressful trying to keep track of each transaction you’ve made for a whole month, but in doing so, you are slimming your chances of your account becoming compromised and upping your chances at catching mistakes or fraudulent activity.  To make reconciliation less of a stress, check out this article at money-rates.com. It has some good information and a few simple steps to keep the process easy to understand: 

http://www.money-rates.com/BasicGuides/Checking/Tips_To_Reconcile_Your_Bank_Account.htm

Reconciling your accounts by hand like “Money Rates” suggests is good for some – like my supervisor, but can seem like a very tedious process for others – like me!  Using the computer can save you valuable time when you just don’t have enough.  It can also reduce the amount of mistakes made when trying to add or subtract the numbers in your head!  Using a program like QuickBooks would be ideal, but it isn’t easily accessible for everyone. Excel is just as fast, and easy.  Check out this article at eHow that takes you through 6 short and easy steps to reconcile your account on your computer. It also offers several tips to help you become more successful in the process!

http://www.ehow.com/how_4423747_reconcile-checking-account-excel.html