Learn to live on less income. If your spouse plans to attend veterinary school either full or part time, chances are this may decrease or eliminate your spouse's income due to her unavailability to work. Major decreases in income can prove problematic when it comes to keeping up with living expenses and monthly bills, let alone school expenses. As soon as your spouse decides to further her education, start managing your money around one income. Work together to create strategies for living on one income to survive and pay bills, and then implement it. Remember, every dime counts so try cutting unnecessary expenses to help put a little extra money away.
Practice your money-saving strategies, even if your spouse won't be attending vet school until the following semester. This will give you the opportunity to save all of the earned income from your spouse's current job until she actually starts school. It also will give you a cushion of extra money that can be used later in the event of an emergency or unforeseen expense.
Develop tactics for managing stress. When your spouse goes back to school, he will be burdened not only by heavy amounts of studying and course work but also the struggles of still trying to help and support his family. It is important that both of you develop tactics that will help each of you to cope with the anxiety of the additional stress and obligations ahead. For example, try scheduling a little "quiet time" in your schedule each day. This can be a time when you can unwind and enjoy doing things you like to do, like reading or working out. This is a great way to relax and can help you get yourself together during a particularly stressful situation. Neglecting to deal with stress in a healthy way can eventually lead to anxiety and serious health problems; learning to cope with these issues is imperative to surviving veterinary school with your spouse.
Take the pressure off. With additional academic studies and pending deadlines of course work, your spouse might find there are some things that he doesn't have time to do in a day. Take the pressure off by learning to let minor things slide and helping when you can. If you have an extra minute in the day, help your spouse with his homework or offer to help him with a chore or errand. The less tasks on your honey-do list, the easier it will be for him to focus on what is important.