It is not exactly fading, but it does have an annoying short in it. The monitor is old since we got it two hard drives ago. Dh and I decided to splurge on a flat screen since we were going to have to buy a new one anyway. I spent a good part of the morning researching and comparing prices. I ended up with a 19" for $175 shipped.

I will not be sad to see the large one go since it takes up so much space on my desk. The cat, on the other hand, will not be happy as she uses the large area for a bed.

The best part is that we have cash to cover the cost. There will be no charging it and struggling to find the money before the bill arrives. Instead I charged it and will deposit the cash on my next trip to the bank and pay off the card when the charge appears.

My current teaching job is helping me get closer to being debt free, but it also gave me the FLU. Many of the students and other staff have been sick. I had made it through 3 1/2 weeks with only 1 1/2 weeks to go without catching anything. Tuesday night I had a sore throat. Wednesday I added a cough. Today I woke with a 101 degree fever and generally felt like crap. Fortunately I got in at the doctor's office. He said I went in early enough that I should recover quickly. I got a shot of antibiotics, antibiotic pills, cough syrup, and Tamiflu. That set us back close to $140 total.

I know I could catch the flu anywhere, but that pretty much sealed the "not teaching credit classes again" decision. I did get a much better offer from another department at the college. I will be looking into teaching continuing education classes. These will be short-term (one to two sessions) in a more relaxed atmosphere and generally just more fun. The first one I am considering is a digital photography class. Basically this is exactly what I wished for yesterday - easy money with no long term commitment.

Well I will learn to go to the doctor sooner. My bill (meds & all) was only about $50. He said that I was very close to developing pneumonia, which would not have been a good way to celebrate the holiday season. I am feeling a little better although I am still being lazy.

The spending comes in with my need for new printer cartidges. I did get refurbished ones and clicked through MyPoints. I am also going to go ahead and other tax software so we can get those done at the beginning of January. My car needs a tune up, but dh can do that himself so it will only cost parts - paid for out of our car repair fund.

Hopefully the rest of the month will be less spendy, but I will not hold my breath. On a positive note, dh will get his bonus on this week's check. Even with the extra spending, we will have $300+ extra to put toward the loans.

I seem to be playing catch up quite a bit lately. I was under the weather for a few days but am finally feeling better. I did some unnecessary spending today and stopped by Lowe's to pick up some fall flowers. The selection was not as good as I would have liked but I managed to find some mums. Fortunately these will come back each year so it was a long term gardening investment.

The past week has been more spendy than I like. The batteries in both vehicles quit so we had to purchase two new ones. Dh also had a tire to blow, but it was still under a partial warranty so that was only $40. He is going back to the doctor tomorrow to get more meds for poison (oak, ivy, who knows) and jelly fish stings that are getting worse not better. He is highly allergic to something in the woods, but he refuses to stay out of there.

On a bright note, none of the money has come out of the emergency fund. Although some of it has come from the extra that would have gone toward debt. Hopefully we will still have enough of the extra left to pay on the loans in two weeks. I really want to get the total under $7K.

I had some planned and unplanned spending yesterday. The unplanned was a doctor's appointment as my allergies have been giving me a fit. We have a air purifier, and I did not realize how much it helped until it quit. Fortunately it is under warranty so it is being repaired. The doctor's appointment was $70 as I have not even gotten close to my deductible. The two prescriptions were generic so only $23 for those. DH went to the doctor two weeks ago, but we have not gotten the bill for that. It should be $77. I am trying to set up small accounts for expenses such as medical, car repair, and stuff like that. These medical expenses are causing problems since they are pulling money away from the debt. At least we have the money to pay for it. I was not expecting some magic budget formula and should know this is going to be an ongoing process.

After getting my prescription filled, I stopped by the grocery store. I spent about $50 there, but that covers two weeks worth of meals. All of the items were on sale and I stuck to my list. I did splurge on some steaks for dh to grill. Dh takes his lunch and snacks to work with him so that is included in the grocery budget. We have no great restaurants here so we end up eating at home most of the time.

I put $20 worth of gas in my car. I go to a station that gives you 2 cents off per gallon every day with their reward card. It was only a savings of 14 cents but I found 2 pennies so I really ended up with 16 cents.

All together it was much more spending that I hoped for. The rest of the week should be better though.