It is just a couple of days until we get into the new year and that means the zero based budget has to be reset!!! I can’t believe I am getting excited about a budget change but thinking about my finances gets me excited all the time.

I have been using Mint to track my budget every month and I was rolling over the unused balances every month. Since December 31st marks the end of the year I will need new rollover amounts starting on January 1st. Now technically I do not really need to do this because Mint tracks all expenses on a yearly basis…but I do want to see all the categories get reset so that I start of the new year with a fresh slate.

All the categories will be reset to zero so there will be no red, green or yellow shaded bars on the first of the new year.  Now my income does not change as I do not think we will be getting an increase as graduate students..but my rent will go down a tiny bit next August as my new lease starts. I am looking forward to that because tuition is not getting any cheaper and I still have some time before I graduate!