So we are now in the new year of 2014 and one of the first things that I did was to go and do a revamp of the budget. I also focused on a few areas I need to work on in my daily life but the budget is the main point here.

I reset all of the categories to zero in the rolling budget so that I can track the entire year of income and expenses without the effect of 2013’s numbers. I reduced the budget for housing expenses because I had it a little too high as my rent went down.  I will now have my housing expense at $30 less than what it was in the last rolling budget.

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I also shaved $10 off my gas budget because I do not really drive all that much now that I am in school. During the long semesters I can catch the shuttle from my apartment to my office and to class on most days. Last semester I only needed to drive one school day because my classes ended later than the buses ran. This spring I am faced with the same situation so I will be  able to save on gas as well. Church and the grocery stores are close by and many times when I hang out with friends it is directly after class, so that cuts down on my driving as well.

I have a dedicated $100 going to my Tuition sub fund in the rolling budget so that I can smooth out the tuition costs over the year. I will add that money in from the savings from reducing other budget categories. $50 of that will come from a direct budget allocation and the other $50 came from savings in certain areas.

I will supplement the reduction in food and shopping categories with the gift cards I get from redeeming my Swagbucks and that should keep me at about the same actual spending level as last year, without affecting this year’s numbers.