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Franck,
Good post! I did not have a family or even a serious girlfriend when I was preparing - I think she would run away anyway cause I all i could talk about was probably essays, math problems, CR's and some crazy gossip on the message boards about when it is better to apply and how to get the right rec letter.

I am afriad I can't suggest anything to help you except to tell you what I did. I worked as a project manager at a non-profit, which did not make my work different much from working for a profit - I would be dealing with problems in construction of the office building, fight with crooks trying to cheat me on the furniture list, and shmoozing the local authorities. However, I did have a "free" schedule, but usually it meanst you work all the time you are not asleep.

I always thought the best time to study is in the morning, when the head is clear and you are not yet overwhelmed with troubles or some disasters. I have made a schedule and notified my boss about it. (I did tell him I was going for a bschool as I asked him for a recommendation). I took Tuesday and Thursday mornings off and would not show up to work till 12. This way I could spend my mornings studying... on the other hand, it meant I would stay at the office till 10PM and would be coming home at 10:30PM

So, I would study 2 hours each Tue and Wed in the morning, spend my weekends mostly taking tests and going over the mistakes. Usually took about 5 hours.

I don't know how you are going to keep your wife from running away, but I had almost no social life. I am a non-native speaker of English, so I had to get it up to standards and spent my evenings reading fiction and books just to get used to reading long and boring things. I think saturday would be my only night I would relax. Other times I would be too tired to want anything but a bed.

This lasted about 3 months I think. I was done with GMAT after that and even worse started - essays. I hate essays, and for a reason - I can't really write them. It was the most frustrating part of my application. I sent them in, still hating all but one. The topics don't help either, obviously.

Looking back, I probably should have used essay consulting services to get them better. I got into the school I wanted to get though, but it would be very helpful to get a professional opinion. Also the lack of support was often discouraging - colleagues and friends sometimes did not understand what I was pursuing or how frustrating some of the elements of the process were.

I did happen to meet a very nice lady after I was done with my application process, but all i had was a month before leaving....