Prepping Your House for a Military Move

Moving can be extremely difficult, especially when the military makes you feel powerless about PCSing. Prepping your house for your move is important to alleviate stress before, during and after a move. Listed below are a few tips and tricks for prepping your house for an upcoming military move.

Gather important documents

Gather all the important documents you may need on your upcoming move. This could include your official military orders, any medical documents, important family documents (birth certificates, passports, etc), school documents for the kids (shot records, physicals, etc.) Read more here about the specific paperwork to hand-carry during your move. 

Organize and declutter

PCS time gives us the perfect opportunity to take a moment and decide what follows us to our next duty station, and what we are ready to part with. Start with that guest room closet or the garage that has been accumulating all the things you swear you’ll need one day. Create four different piles or boxes labeled Toss, Donate, Sell, or Keep. As you tackle each room, do your best to separate items into these four categories. Taking the time to organize and declutter before a move can set you up for a more stress-free move-in! There are more tips here to make progress on your PCS purge.

Research your PCS move

Will you have the moving company move everything? Will you be renting a Uhaul or PODS and moving part of your household goods yourself? Will you move the entirety of your belongings yourself as a PPM (Personally Procured Move)? Do you have to ship a vehicle overseas, or even sell a vehicle before leaving? Start looking into these important,--and oftentimes stressful--logistics, because these decisions will be necessary to make before you start preparing your house for the upcoming PCS.

Hold or forward your mail

Make sure you put a hold on your mail so that any important documents don’t get mailed to your old address or possibly get lost in the mail. If you are lucky enough to have a home or a known address on the other side of your move, forward your mail. If not, you can temporarily forward it to a family member or to the service's member receiving unit office.

Plan your travel

Are you going to fly or drive to your next duty station? Are you able to take your time and make a vacation out of it or do you need to get to your next duty station quickly? Consider planning a vacation for your family during this time, or visit your friends and family you don’t normally see. Once you have your plan in place, you can decide what from your house you will need to bring with you. 

Designate a "DO NOT PACK" zone

A couple weeks before the movers are scheduled to come, take the time to walk through your house and think about the next couple of days, weeks or even months that you will be without your household goods. What additional items will you want to bring with you outside of your important documents and valuables? Some items to consider - kitchenware/appliances, tools, weather-related clothing gear, special toys or stuffed animals, sheets and bedding items, and even jewelry or family hierlooms. Before moving day, you need to pack for the trip ahead. Once you have packed what you will be bringing with you, create a designated space for everything that is NOT going to be packed by the movers. This space could be a specific room, a corner, or a closet. Clearly label this area do NOT pack so the movers will not accidentally pack something that you need during your PCS. 

Use the Stressless PCS Kit

The Stressless PCS Kit is an all-in-one, complete and pre-printed labeling system that ensures an organized move each and every time. As a fellow military spouse, I knew there was a need for better efficiency, organization, cost savings, and further accountability of our household goods. The kit helps remove the stress by providing an easy-to-follow system that will allow military families to organize the hundreds of Household Good (HHG) boxes that will move from one home to the next. It contains 240 labels, 12 door hangers, an instructions sheet, and a room chart. 

No matter how much you prepare, plan, and organize before your PCS move, some things are just truly out of your control. One of our favorite pieces of advice from a fellow military spouse is, “Do what you can. Hand carry irreplaceable items, let the rest go. Your family is the only thing that matters.” 

It is important to keep a positive outlook, stay flexible, and be open to change throughout the entire process. Although a move can be stressful, your new adventure might be the best one yet!