My DH is a catastrophic insurance adjuster. He has been working in Pennsylvania for the past 3 months, working claims for Allstate.
He makes really good money doing this job, but, there have been long spells where there was no work for him.
He has been doing this job since 2005 and I have learned to save our money for when he is not working. It makes budgeting very difficult. Part of our credit card debt was from the last time he spent not working.
I handle all of the finances for our family. He never looks at or pays a bill. He has no idea what we owe and what kind of savings we have. He just trusts me to do all of that.
My husband has always been a very hard worker. We owned a small lumber yard and construction business for many years. We finally went broke doing that in the 90s because the economy was so bad where we lived. But, he always worked 6 days a week and many times he roofed houses because he could make a lot of money doing it.
He went to work for the state for a few years and that steady income was so nice. Always knew what we would have to work with for the month. But, he got to where he didn't like his boss and co-workers so he wanted to do this adjuster thing.
He tried to get a job last time he was home, but didn't even get any interviews. In this economy I guess it is good he has the job he does have now.
But, it is hard with him being gone so much.
We miss him and like I said, financially it is not very reassuring to not ever know how much money you are going to have to work with.

Always before, I would start paying off the CCs by the thousands because his pay is so good.
But, this time, I have decided to just pay $1000 per month extra toward the debt. That way we will have plenty in our checking and saving account to tide us over until the next time he works.
He has been gone about 3 months this time, and I think he will be home soon.
So, maybe he can be home a couple of months for a break and then go somewhere and work for another 3 or 4 months.
We shall see.....

Spending today...
$4.64 = salad for lunch
$6.10 = Walgreens, lotion and cough medicine
$1.00 = car wash to vacuum out car