Well, we are 8 weeks into the O/O lifestyle and there are some things that we are struggling to adjust to.

One is truck maintenance. Hubby is home most weekends, but ...... Not the amount of home time that he used to have when he was local. I'd say home time for weekends has reduced around 24 hours. This week he got home on Fri around noon and left today around 9am.

And the home time that he does have, much is spent on maintenance on the truck and trailer. Oil changes, greasing, adjusting breaks and working out little kinks that seem to crop up. Nothing major, small things, but these things take time, none the less. Also, consider that the inside of the truck needs cleaned, due to the fact that he hauls very smelly loads. LOL

I know that a lot of the maintenance will be reduced once he has worked out some of the kinks in the truck, but he is picky, and doesn't want DOT to have any reason to shut him down, so it all must be done. Truck is a 2001 FL with almost 700,000 on it, but was very well taken care of.

Ok, then there is the paperwork. Another area the eats time, but if you want paid, you have to get it done, so that it goes in the mail Monday. We are getting better at that, but it still takes time.

So I guess what I'm asking here is, for all you O/O's do you take a three day weekend now and then to "catch" up on family time, home repair, and you know all the other stuff that you would like to get done? And if your loads are brokered, does the broker get upset with you for needing that time? Do you save that time, that you would like to take for a rainy day, ie. breakdown? And how do you handle a broker that wants to push you as bad or worse than a dispatcher? These are just all things that I am what if'ing here.

And yeah, we have some things at home that are slipping around here, just because I CAN'T possibly do it all.

and your last sentence all i can say is, get a pool boy.

Hahahaha very funny. I'm not Bri or Gabby, but a gardener would be nice.

No seriously though, I hear the frustration in his voice, when he gets the call to leave. I know he is wanting more time to handle things around here.

it's hard to be a driver nowdays and it's good he has you to understand and help him thru tough times.

Thanks, I try to be patient. He was very patient with me when I went back to school and started my bsns, so now its my turn. KWIM??

He had a really rough week this past week, and I try to make his home time as easy on him as possible, by contributing to the upkeep and bookwork.

The life of a trucker's wife is NOT easy. Add to this list as you all think of more. A trucker's wife deals with:

• Endless griping about traffic
• Endless griping about dispatchers
• Endless hours alone
• Endless hours only holding a phone
• Having to do EVERYTHING that has to be done to run a household
• Dealing with children herself and having to do it ALL

Any more to add, all?

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you hit the nail on the head with that one wiseone. i think the ladies here could posible give better info on what they have to deal with and that wwould help her out alot too.

I can say yes to every one of WiseOne's points. Been there, done it all!

Yeah, maybe some of the ladies can make some suggestions to help me through this transition.

And maybe some day, I'll get to go with him for a while, but not until these two hollow leg boys are out and on their own. Anyone want my grocery bill for a week?

He'll have to learn to say no some times. I know thats hard to do if the money is tight but some thing will have to give one day and its best to keep the home front happy. And that means a combination of money and projects done.

And yes it'll get easy and faster as you get the rythum of it all down.

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Yeah, that is my thought too. We are doing good money wise, the broker is almost caught up to the three weeks out stage, so thats not really the issue any more.

We are trying to bank a percentage of the $$$ for emergencies and maintenance. And that is beginning to build as well. Thanks to this forum and all the great information here, it was pretty easy to figure out how much to set back each week for that.

We set some goals for our finances too and I think that he is busy trying to exceed those goals. Which is great, but I don't want it to be the end all beat all, if we can't quite make those goals.

Thank goodness we went into this owing very little, so that if he does have to turn down a load or two, he can. He has refused some that he knew he didn't have the hours for, so I know that he is capable of saying no! LOL