Can I actually enter into the 21st century?

I must admit that my computer skills are rudimentary at best. Hubby uses me as his guinea pig when designing sites and seeing how functional they are for the everyday user. It drives him crazy when watching me try to navigate through the web. I can see his fingers twitching, dying to take the computer or mouse out of my hands and just do it himself. For the most part he resists temptation.

I am all for online banking, paying bills online, etc, etc. But I love, love, love my checkbook. I still sit down every two weeks when hubby gets paid and hand write in all the bills, set aside money, and balance our budget. I am not sure I will ever get away from doing it the old fashioned way. But I would love to be able to pay my bills online without having to write a check. So what's stopping me? The bank.

I have tried not once, not twice, but three times to set up my bills for online pay. I have gathered all the information, sat down after Cookie has gone to bed and am prepared to enter into the 21st century. What's my problem, why can't I manage this simple task that my own mother (even less computer literate) is able to accomplish? The bank's website times me out every single time. I dutifully enter in my information, hit the enter button and watch the little curser turn into a pretty itty bitty circle of "I'm thinking" and then......minutes later I receive a nice message that the server has "timed out". I try again and again....same thing.

Now, I have done this procedure three different times, and months apart. I have now given up hope. Is it me? Is it the computer? Maybe it's my internet connection? Maybe it is the bank? For now, I am still content to do things the way my mother taught me. I just hope Cookie and Jelly Bean never have to witness the frustration and despair I had to see every time my Mom sat down to pay bills. But for now, I like paying them. I always feel like have accomplished something. I love to see that once again, I have budgeted properly. Does that mean we are debt free? Far from it. But it does mean that the bills are getting paid and I don't have to worry about it for another month.