Well, my DH deployed to Iraq a fews ago. It's sad not having him here and I hate not being able to call him or see him. But I'm trying to be positive and view this time apart as a time where we can save money and one day better our lives because of it.

Being deployed he gets extra pay and we plan to save that, as well as some of his ordinary pay. I've moved across the country and am finishing my college degree, and also living w/ my folks for the time being, which is also good for saving money, but not good for my sanity.

Well, I plan to move out of my folks house soon and into a modest apartment close to the college I'm attending. Tuition is roughly $3,000 per semester, so that's a tough blow, but without rent it's working out okay for now. We've paid down our credit cards to $2,000. In the past few months it had risen to $7,000 due to tuition, books, moving expenses, etc. In the next month I should be able to pay the last card off and retire the credit cards for good which is exciting.

This might be a little controversial, but I've opened up a personal checking account in addition to the joint one we both have and am funneling money into the personal checking account from our joint one. You see, his pay is direct deposited into our joint account and without a lot of expenses and the extra pay we should be able to save a good amount. BUT, my fear was that once the money starts rolling into the joint account, I would feel richer and be compelled to spend more simply because there's more there. So I'm giving myself an allowance each month that goes directly to my account and have stopped using the joint account. This way when I look in my account and see that it's quite low I'll stop spending. My monthly allowance is $300...that will change when i move into an apartment but for now it covers my meager expenses. That's the plan for now. Does it make sense to anyone other than me? My DH understands but is still skeptical, though he trusts my judgement.