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I seem to be unusually hard on my rear wheels -- they need to be re-tensioned and trued about every six to eight weeks -- and I'm looking for advice or routine maintainence to keep from having to bring them to the shop to have them trued all the time.

I commute about twenty miles round-trip, five days a week, mostly over smooth pavement (maybe a mile total of slightly rough road or gravel path). I'm a reasonable weight (about 165lb), and I carry a fairly light load (five to six pounds, on an aluminum rear rack). The wheels I run are cheap, but should be reasonable for this kind of use: 32h Alex rims, stainless spokes, cross-three. I've had this problem on two different wheels from two different vendors, so I don't think it's just a single weak wheel.

So, is there anything I can do to keep the tension better and the wheel truer as part of my regular maintainence schedule? I do pretty much all my own maintainence except for wheels; I'd like to learn how to maintain my own wheels too, but I can't afford a truing stand or a tension meter right now, and I've had poor results with trying to true it in the frame and feeling the tension by squeezing the spokes.

Any help or advice is appreciated.