1.got my usaa credit card and paid all the recurring bills for 7-10 months. ( They advertise a low interest rate for deployments.)
(was supposed to be a 5-6 month deployment this time)-I am in the Guard -I live in Texas but am in the Iowa National Guard- and was deploying as an augmentee for the Massachusetts Guard, but they were delayed at Mob Station before I went to deploy, and I went about a month before they got there so I replaced my counter part a month earlier than planned(he was in the South Dakota Guard)
So I knew my admin/pay stuff was going to get screwed up, I had planned for the pay to be jacked up for 4-5 months and was surprised that I only had to go to finance a few times over the first month to sort shit out.
I also had about 2 years notice that I was going to go again(I deployed in 2003-2004 and was a State Department WPPS contractor for 2004-2006. My Brigade was stood up, but when it was about a year out they changed the requirements for my Specialty to deploy for 6 months instead of the whole duration, we actually had most of the previous non-deployers sign up for the whole tour. So I called the lady in charge of the rotations and found a cake job for about the same time as my BDE was going and on the same base.
As a preface she has 2 jobs, works for the state(retires in one year and has a private practice), and I go to work earlier than her and get home 2-3 hours before she does. I enjoy cooking and I can do it fairly well. We live in the boonies, so when I shop it is in bulk as not to have to take an hour to go to the shity little grocery store 10 miles away and pay double what I would, or 20 miles One way to the little bigger town for a real grocery store for a single jar of spaghetti sauce. I handle all the money- her paycheck goes into "our account" and all the bills get paid from there. When she wants cash I give her $400 or so and she wont say anything until she needs more.
I gave her $5000 in cash and also had bought 2 months of all monthly bills in US Postal Money orders prefilled out and addressed to the payee.
I made addressed envelopes and bought 75 bucks worth of stamps
I had 20 pre signed checks in her safe for emergencies
Prepaid the bills
paid the propane people
paid the house taxes(house is paid for) prepaid the lake dues(private lake)
paid her car payments (set up recurring payments and ensured they were pre funded) My car was paid for.
Prepaid the Car and house insurance.
Paid the Trash company, water company, electric company, the electric aerobic inspections company for the year
Got about 30 12 packs of Coke Zero pre staged at the house and about 45 4 packs of her favorite adkins protein drinks and 200 of her favorite energy shots-she does a adkins protein shake and a Coke Zero and a energy shot each morning.
Got her aunt (elderly retired nurse that lives up the road that set me up with the SO-her niece) $750 worth of Grocery Store -Brookshires and Krogers gift cards to ensure she made the SO something to eat for dinner every day.
---When I met the SO she had a couple of Pina Coloda 4 pks, mustard, ketchup, cheddar cheese and eggs in the fridge and some broccoli and cheese frozen packages and a few weight watcher meals(she takes them to work for lunch) and a bunch of microwave popcorn(her normal dinner)
Shortly after I moved in I did all the grocery shopping and all the cooking. She does the Thanksgiving meals Christmas and Easter meals and cooks when my Parents come down for their once or twice a year visits.
Coordinated with her best female friend from High School(and prepaid for both with points from the cruise credit card) for a girls cruise half way through my deployment.
Contacted the local redneck engineer that has fixed lots of stuff for us in the past-(retired guy that still has family members that do plumbing and electric and dabble in general contracting) gave him $200 and explained that I was going to be gone and that the SO may need emergency help.
Got her a power of attorney for the bank and my(our) account that I pay bills out of. Showed her how to pay the bills, where the combos were
I did the flowers thing as well, I also had 20 small Moose figurines (she loves Moose's) gift wrapped and delivered on a schedule by the Aunt that lives up the road.