[Strive4health]

When my husband and I are stressed, we get on each other's nerves and snap and then it goes downhill from there.

He is working FT and I'm a part time student and will be working soon, too. It doesn't leave a lot of time for us to be together anymore during the week and it places a strain on how we can get things done. I'm home now, and it's easy for me to get cleaning done, grocery shopping, errands, laundry, cooking, etc. When I start working again, we'll divide those duties but what sucks is some of them will spill over into the weekend. Our weekends are our down time where we can spend time together and I'll have homework!

Whenever I'm in school, we get stressed out and it gets bad. I want to do things differently this time. I'd like to get some ideas on how to reduce the stress, have more patience with each other, and maximize our time to get tasks done and spend quality time together.

[Chimney]

Being a stubborn, argumentative woman who married an equally if not more stubborn, argumentative man, the most simple yet hardest thing for me was to realize that not everything is worth arguing about. We've been together 18yrs and still have our battles, but now only really about the few things that truly matter to each of us.

It might not be relevant to your situation but maybe you can take something from it. This simple change that was so against the grain for me. .....transformed our marriage.

[Strive4health]

Haha, you are so right! We do get into stupid arguments for no reason sometimes-- because it seems like a relevant issue and it's not. I can think back to a few times where this created more stress than needed, during the most stressful times.

[Chimney]

At first it felt like I was "giving in" but looking back I argued about so much.....and it wasn't important stuff. Now when I really put my foot down and brace myself for a b****y good fight, it's about something that I feel really strongly about.

You'll find a balance between you.