Being married to a military man for 6 years now, I have endured my fair share of moves. We are currently underway with our fifth move, or PCS (permanent change of station), so I’d like to consider myself somewhat of an expert. Two of the moves I did without help from anyone. Whew! Just talking about it brings back some bad memories! The first time was from an off base house in Hawaii to a house on base. When we first moved to Hawaii there was a long waiting list for housing so we decided to experience the real Hawaii and live out in town. While we met some great local people and enjoyed our short 5 minute walk to the beach, life in a 1,ooo sqft home without a/c was less than enjoyable. We put our name back on the housing wait list and were lucky enough to get a home. The downside was that the home became available when my husband was deployed. Me, being the super Marine Corps wife that I am, decided to move into our new home by myself. I’ll never forget the day the first mover showed up to our house. He was early and asked if he could use our bathroom. (We only had one bathroom in our home and the door was one of those bi-fold closet doors with slats in them.) I said sure and continued on with whatever I was doing. A minute or two later, the loudest explosion I have ever heard came ripping through the slats on the bathroom door. This man, who I’d just met  and would be spending the next 3 days with, was blowing up my one and only bathroom. I immediately covered my mouth and ran outside. It was going to be a long 3 days.

While I’m sure I have a million other moving horror stories, I’ve come up with a list of things I think are important to know when moving in the military. I hope you will find them helpful, and make your move less stressful. Good luck!

• Have as many friends and family members as you can get to come and watch on packing day. I have found lamps shoved in boxes and china stacked on top of each other and wrapped in a group. Every moving company is different, but for the most part you must have the mentality that they don’t care about your stuff as much as you do. Having one person to each mover is great because they can watch what they’re doing and make sure they’re doing it right. It’s also great to have extra eyes for things that might get stolen disappear.
• Forward your mail to a family member’s home (or new address if you already know it). It usually takes a week or so for your mail to taper off. Call most places like your bank, and inform them of your new address. Don’t forget to tell family and friends of your new address once you get it!
• Place pets at a friends house or arrange to get them groomed the day of the move. Pets usually get freaked out during a move and are in the way.
• Don’t wait until the last day to re-paint walls that you’ve painted (if this is written in your contract). I stayed up until hours before the movers came priming walls because I underestimated how long it would take.
• Pack all your valuables yourself and keep them with you. I always pack my jewelry and keep it in my bag that I take with me. My husband packs his guns, watches, and checks etc. Don’t risk something valuable turning up missing.
• The moving company that has been assigned to you will usually come a few weeks before and do a walk through to see how much stuff you have. Ask if you can get some boxes delivered early to pack personal items that you might not want someone packing. It’s a pretty awkward feeling watching a complete stranger pack away your lingerie and hitting yourself because you didn’t remember to pack those things yourself!
• I like to group all my breakable items in one area and ask the movers who their best packer is and then assign them to that area. Usually there is one person in the group that takes his time and is better at packing the breakables.
• Make sure you have a suitcase packed with everything you will need for a few months until you’re reunited with your things. Take this suitcase and put it, along with anything else you might not want packed, in your vehicle. I’ve had things separated into boxes that I wanted to keep only to leave the room and come back 5 minutes later to find that box gone. Good luck trying to find THAT box or item among the hundred other boxes!
• Try and use up most of the food in your refrigerators. For the items that are left, save a cooler and pack those items to take with you (unless you are doing a move out of the US). We couldn’t do this on our first move to Hawaii but realized just how much condiments and the basics cost when starting over with an empty fridge.
• Have some cash out to tip your movers. A little incentive never hurt anyone. If you’re super nice and feel that they’re doing a great job, buy them lunch. I promise they’ll be more eager to take care of your stuff and work faster!
• Leave behind cleaning items to clean your rental home after the movers leave. Trust me, you’ll have some dirty bathrooms after 4 movers have used your toilets all day! Yuck!

Military moving announcement by Four Harp Designs