This piece first appeared as a series of blogposts beginning in December 2009.
We've got a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) coming up hot on the heels of the holidays, and, while I'm still filled with anxiety over everything that has to be done between then and now, it all feels like it's coming together a little bit more easily this time.
Part of that comes from experience. This will be our fourth move with the Navy, and we've largely got the situation figured out. Herewith, some pointers:
1. Do It Yourself At least partially. Every time we've moved, we've wound up with our cars full of the stuff the movers won't take. This includes houseplants, domestic pets, dangerous household chemicals, anything flammable. It also includes anything you'll want immediate access to: laptops, reading material, music, important documents, etc. And finally, it includes anything you just don't want the movers to potentially lose, like photos, artwork, Star Wars figurines in their original packaging, whatever.
So, when you fill out all the forms using the SMARTWebMove site, make sure you request both the do-it-yourself option (now known as the "Personally Procured Move") and the household goods option. It involves having your vehicle weighed empty and packed, but it's worth it, since you're going to have a full car anyway. This time, we're renting an extra vehicle for the trip, in addition to our two cars. Since we have a toddler, now, the Raptor will be pretty much full of his gear, and the Privateer is too small to haul much. So, the rental. My sister is going to pilot one of the cars, and yours truly has been promised the privilege of riding with the meowing felines in the rental.
2. SMARTWebMove This should have been number 1. SMARTWebMove is the online utility that you use to apply for your moving dates (N.B. this is a Navy utility, but I assume the other services have something similar). You select every detail from whether or not to do a Personally Procured Move (see #1, above) to whether or not you need to place your household goods in storage.
The SMARTWebMove interface is sort of clumsy and overwhelming the first time you look at it, but you'll get the hang of it as you read. And there's a lot to read. Unfortunately, it's all written in bureaucratese, so the service member in the household may have to be consulted.
The nice thing about it is that all the information you need (and more!) is right there on the web page. And it's convenient. Once you've selected your preferred packing and moving dates, the service member will have to submit her orders to the folks at PSD (Personnel Support Detachment - again, this is a Navy thing). After that, you'll get your packing and moving dates and be on your way.
3. Househunting This may seem like a no-brainer, but get the househunting done early!
It's also important to never succumb the allure of leasing a place sight-unseen, no matter how far away your destination. It might mean taking something temporary until you find a more permanent solution. We almost got suckered conned tempted into doing so this time, but we saved a lot of money and got a much nicer place by making the trip to see the place for ourselves.
Just by way of illustration, the couple who will be moving into our house when we leave have been living in a house that "smells like a meth lab" for the past month because they didn't inspect it for themselves before signing the lease. And they even had a realtor look at the place for them!
4. Get Organized. As your moving date gets closer (ours is 6 days out!), your To-Do list will get long. A lot of the things that need to get done all have to happen right at the end.
We had our pre-move inspection last week, during which I made sure the inspector took note of insane number of books we own. I also made sure she heard the story of our last pack-out, when the packers arrived at our place only to take one look inside and say, “We didn’t bring enough boxes,” whereupon they left for another hour and a half.
Between the morning's delay and their long lunch, they were at my house until 10 o'clock that night.
In an effort to avoid that this time, we're trying to be super-organized. Check that: my wife is the organized one; I'm just trying to be as useful as possible. So last weekend we disassembled the office and touched up the paint. We moved furniture. We filled Rubbermaid tubs with stuff that we’ll be bringing in the cars.
This weekend we're organizing the basement, taking stuff down from the scary loft, and donating or throwing out everything we know we won't need at the other end.
Here’s a handy (though by no means exhaustive) list of a few things you’ll need to think about after the jump:
-Take care of any necessary doctor/dentist visits. Do this before you move so you don’t have to wait for all the paperwork to catch up with you at your new duty station.
-Get your prescriptions refilled. If they're even close to running out, stock up now.
-Prep your house for the packers. Bring those boxes down from the attic. Bring your tools up from the basement. Put anything you don’t want packed into a separate room or closet with a sign on it that says “Don’t Pack Anything in This Room!”
-Get empty weight tickets for your vehicles.
-Make a packing list.
