Tricks of the Trade

So, if all goes according to plan (yeah, right) in approximately one month and four days we will be leaving Fort Irwin behind. That means it's time to get serious with the prepping. While yes, the Army does pay for professional movers to come in and pack our house up, there is quite a bit of prep-work involved if you want it to go smoothly. I decided to put my ten years of PCSing to work and make a list of things that are good to know. For those of you who are new to the world of PCSing, listen up! :-)

1. Organize, organize, organize. In order to make life a little easier for yourself on the other end of the move, make sure all of your things are fairly organized before the movers come. Decide how you want things grouped together - by room or by item. The movers usually pack by room, not by item. So, for instance, if you want all your bedding in the same few boxes, make sure it's all in one place, not split up between bedrooms. Take a day or two before moving day to make piles of things you want packed together.

2. Packed By Owner. Most of us ladies have certain, er, unmentionables that we aren't comfortable having a group of strange, sweaty men paw through. Totally understandable. The solution to this problem is called Packed By Owner. Before moving day, pack yourself whatever you want to keep hidden. Seal up the box and write "PBO" on all sides. The box will be marked on the manifest as "packed by owner" and won't see the light of day until you open it back up. Keep in mind - anything in a PBO box will NOT be covered by the government insurance, so if whatever you pack is fragile, make sure you do a good job.

3. Open First Box. Nothing is more irritating than unpacking your boxes in your new house searching for something that you need and having to open 32 boxes before you find it. I recommend an "open first" box. Put together a list of things you think you'll need when you first move in. Things like a few towels, a sponge, bars of soap (not liquid), toilet paper, paper plates and plastic silverware, a frying pan, a few cooking utensils...etc. Put it all together and tell the movers you want this stuff in one box. Mark it "Open First". Now you've got the essentials to get you through the first few days of unpacking without having to open every single box while you look for a frying pan.

4. Ziploc Bags are Your Best Friend. A friend of mine mentioned this to me during her recent move and I thought it was a great idea. Put all your small items - silverware, junk drawer items, magnets, into Ziplocs before moving day. The movers will just lump everything together and wrap it all up in paper which usually ends up making a mess during unpacking. Ziplocs will save you from having to dig out all the spoons that fell out of the paper during the move.

5. Watch Your Valuables. They'll tell you this during your transportation briefing, but I'm going to reiterate it here. When it comes to valuable items - WATCH THE MOVERS PACK THEM. Make sure they are careful, make sure the boxes are correctly labeled, and make sure it goes on the manifest. While I personally like to believe the best about people, the fact remains that not everyone is honest and the possibility of your things disappearing is a big one. Remember, if it's not on the manifest, it doesn't exist. Make sure the movers write down your flat screen, your blu-ray player, your thousand dollar antique bell collection...etc. Above all - make SURE you hand carry all your money. Do not allow the movers to pack cash or coins - it WILL disappear, and money is not covered by the insurance.

6. Do Your Own Labeling. If you want, follow behind the movers and mark the boxes with your own labels after the movers are done with them. Don't cover their labels, but add your own. I'll tell you why. During my last PCS I opened up a box that was marked "kitchen". In the box was a bunch of sheets and blankets and one drinking glass. Don't ask me how that glass got in there, but according to the movers that made it a kitchen box. If you want to avoid this type of unnecessary confusion, you might want to write down what's actually in the box on your own.

7. Purge. This kind of goes along with #1. Before moving day arrives, go through everything and get rid of what you don't need. There is absolutely no sense in moving stuff you want to throw away. Not only will it eat up your weight allowance, but you'll just end up having to get rid of it when you get to your next place. Throw it away, donate it, sell it, whatever. Just get rid of it. Most posts will allow you to schedule a special bulk trash pick-up when you're moving out, so if you have big items to get rid of, that's the way to go.

Hopefully this helps you, and gives you some ideas to make moving easier. If you have other tricks or things that aren't mentioned here, please write me a comment and let me know! I'm always on the lookout for new ideas.