Packing is always a nightmare – Stefanie Powers
A new year means a new PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season is fast approaching! Spring of 2018 was my first PCS and my first truly big move. Going from the States to an overseas duty station was daunting. Until then, I had only relocated within a few hours of my last house, and my family.
For those moves, it was totally possible to make multiple trips. I could lay clothes from the closet, still on the hangers, in the backseat of the car. My furniture had almost always been moved on my dad’s flatbed trailer. A good bit of my stuff had never been packed in a box. But a military move is its own beast. It is unlike any other moving experience I’ve ever had.
Moving with the military is a big process. There are often meetings to attend and forms to complete before you can even schedule your packing date. And as the thick of PCS season rolls in, it gets harder and harder to get the moving dates you want. In preparation for our big day(s), I read a lot of tips and tricks from other military spouses. I’d hardly moved states, much less countries. I wanted to know what to expect, best practices, and things to avoid. Although no one list will work in every situation, here’s some of what I learned during my first overseas military move.
Start working toward a pack date as soon as you have orders
This is hugely important! Usually, peak PCS season is considered May through September. With more families in transition, appointments fill up fast. Expect that you will need an appointment for everything, and often, you won’t be able to make an appointment without orders. For our overseas move, we had to attend meetings, fill out (so many) forms, and wait on our requested dates to be approved. There’s a lot to do before you have a packing date so don’t delay. Make lots of copies of your orders – at least 10. Every office will want a hard copy to keep.
Most families have at least two packing days – one for your unaccompanied baggage (UB) and another for your household goods (HHG). If you have a lot of things to move, you may have two days’ worth of HHG packing. Usually, your UB shipment arrives first, somewhere around 30 days after shipping. HHG arrives later, sometimes as many as 60 days after shipping.
It can be intimidating trying to sort and decide what items to put in which shipment. But have no fear! To help, at the end of the post I’ve included a little bonus information about unaccompanied baggage.
Our move to Japan was our first family PCS and it was challenging. Because my approval to move overseas with Husband was delayed, so were our orders. Add on that Husband was TDY up until the month we moved. Try as I might, there’s little a spouse can do solo. Our bags were packed only 3 days before we flew to Tokyo. Despite cramming in all.the.things. into a very small window of time, we somehow made it. Trust that you will too!
Know your weight allowance
There are a few ways to get information on the weight allowance for your new duty station. I was always told it would appear on Husband’s orders, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. Of course, you can always reach out directly to your new location’s personal property office. You can search for that information on the move.mil website here.
To get an idea of your family’s total weight allowance (based on the servicemember’s pay grade and dependents), check out this section of move.mil. For OCONUS moves, get an idea of the percentage of that weight you’re able to bring using the Defense Travel website.
Don’t forget – servicemembers get up to 2,000lbs of pro-gear that’s not counted in your total weight. Spouses are also allowed pro-gear of up to 500lbs. Make sure you follow the directions of your transportation office, as only certain items are eligible.
Don’t be afraid to get rid of things
I come by it honestly, but sometimes I have a hard time getting rid of things. Who doesn’t, right? Husband and I did a pretty good clean out before we moved. We passed along lots of items to friends and family. We donated some things. And yet, we still packed more than we needed.
Did we need to bring all our picture frames? No. Did we really need to pack all the towels we owned? No. Could we have bought new bed pillows when we arrived? Yes. It’s hard, but try and take an honest assessment of what you have and what you’ll need. What might be easier to buy at your new station? For overseas moves, the military can help you store things if needed.
Although we brought over more than we needed, many of the extra things have been passed along to bless families here. This was my first international move, and our first move as a family, and we weren’t sure what we’d be able to purchase once we arrived. (Ok, I wasn’t sure. God bless Husband). Going from one of the largest military posts in the world to a very small one left us (me) unsure of what items might be easily available.
This move was a good experiment in letting things go. For our next, I plan to stick more closely to the 20/$20 rule – if it can be replaced in 20 minutes for $20 or less, consider leaving it behind.
Pre-pack some before the big day
I am 100% type A and I like to be involved. For me, it alleviated some anxiety to pre-pack items before the big day of packing. It also gave Husband and I time to take stock of our stuff and decide what should stay.
Pre-packing also forced us not to wait until the last minute. We could think through what should go on the plane with us and what should be included in unaccompanied baggage. We were careful to pack what we could in reusable plastic totes. This gave us a place to store things after we moved. You can never have too many plastic totes – am I right?
Side note: I really like these Sterilite containers. They have a gasket that helps to keep out water and moisture. And they’re clear, meaning I could see most of the contents quickly. For this move, we used both the 20-quart and the 32-quart containers.
We packed all our linens and some of our clothing in space bags. This eliminated some bulky boxes, which helped with the unpacking overwhelm once we arrived. I stuck an index card inside that stated who’s clothing it was, or what size sheets were inside. And I mixed and matched items. I didn’t put all the sheets in one space bag but instead mixed some sheets, bath towels, and kitchen towels. This way, if I was in a hurry, I could open just one back for a mix of things. The movers wrapped the flattened Space bags in thick brown paper and away they went. You can get multi-packs of Space bags here. We used mostly medium and large, with one or two extra-large for big bedding items.
A word of caution when packing clothing and things, no matter how you do it. Make sure your stuff is clean and completely dry before packing. Spending 30-60 days in a shipping container is a prime environment for mold. We unpacked our clothing 2 months exactly from pack day. While unpacking, I thought some of the items in the bag had a stale smell to them. A dryer sheet in the bag might have helped but opening the bag and laying the items out for a few hours got rid of any smell I thought was there.
Take photos
In my opinion, you can’t have too many photos. (Again, God bless Husband.) Photos don’t weigh anything, and they can be helpful if you have a claim for a lost or damaged item. This is especially true of high-value items.
I made sure to get photos of all of our electronics (TV, gaming system, etc). I had multiple photos of the item both on and off (to show that it works), and the serial numbers. We have pictures of our furniture before the movers came. There are photos of my jewelry and important documents that we were going to carry on the plane with us.
I even took photos of the packing process. The night before the movers arrived, I went room to room, snapping an image of the totes and boxes we’d pre-packed. It was helpful to be able to look back and see that everything had arrived. I also took a few pictures of the movers packing and moving boxes. Documentation is your friend during any move. Don’t forget to back up your pictures. We opted to store ours on a cloud-based system, but an old-fashioned USB works great too!
Read all the paperwork and inventory sheet
Those photos you took earlier in the day can come in handy here. There are a lot of moving parts (and people!) on packing day. Sometimes things are forgotten. The tendency of many people is to just sign and move on. But if an item isn’t on the inventory sheet, it doesn’t exist. We kept a rough count of the boxes that were packed. This helped us know about how many cartons should be listed.
Have more than one person around on packing day
For real. We had at least 7 people in our two-bedroom, one-floor apartment. It was chaos. Husband was great in running out to get lunch and helping to keep eyes on what was being packed into the truck outside. It also helps to have two people around to answer questions. We didn’t have kids or pets for our move day, but I would highly recommend an off-site sitter for the big day.
Side note: Not everyone feeds their moving crew but we did. It’s always our goal to welcome guests into our home as if they are part of our family, no matter if you’re visiting or working. Some coffee, a cold bottle of water, or a hot lunch goes a long way. We didn’t break the bank, but we did take care of our people.
Connect to your new duty station
This was one of the best things I did before we moved. These days, most installations have a Facebook page for spouses or classified sales. Reach out and join these pages early. Often the best resources for questions are the people doing life in the same place as you. These families all had to move there some time, so tap into their experience. Reaching out to the post’s transportation office, housing office, and/or personal property office with questions will also help you connect.
Moving is never easy. It’s often cited as one of life’s the most stressful things. (Job changes is another common stressor – that’s a 2 for 1 deal I don’t want to cash in on!) But I hope these tips have eased your mind and helped you come up with a plan for your move. Be optimistic and keep putting one foot in front of the other – things will work themselves out. One way or another you’ll get there and have a great adventure in the process! You got this!
As promised, for sticking with me this far, I’ve created some tips specifically related to unaccompanied baggage (UB). Unaccompanied baggage is only for overseas moves, but hopefully, this resource will be helpful for you no matter where you’re headed! Get your free ebook with loads of tips on getting your UB ready by clicking here.
Tell me – If it’s your first move – what are you most worried about? Are you a moving veteran – what tips and tricks have you learned? Happy moving!
Military life offers some great opportunities, including the chance to live all over the world. But moving is hard. I’ve created a free resource, all about unaccompanied baggage. Being informed about the moving process will make everything smoother. Click the banner to claim your free eBook!
Hi Maggie, your story took me back to PCSs when I was growing up. My parents always had coffee and lunch, too. Once my mother looked up to see a packer picking up the full clear glass Pyrex coffee pot off the stove with the gas burner on under it to PACK! The guy said the week before a colonel chased the van down the highway and made them unpack and find his false teeth! If their hand touches it, they pack it. We also provide lunch for moves.When we moved to Maryland and stored household goods until house was built, we unpacked a box to find the McDonald’s lunch trash. If you don’t want it packed, remove it from the house before the Packers come.
Laurie,
Oh my! We had heard horror stories of movers packing trash and things. I was so nervous that was going to happen I actually mentioned it to them beforehand! Thankfully that wasn’t our experience at all (at least not this time). Our team was very mindful of our things, asked if they had questions, and kept their common sense about them. Thanks for sharing your story and memories!