Military Moving Tips for Spouses

If you’re a new military spouse, you’ll quickly find that one of the challenges you’ll have to deal with is frequent moves. Whether your spouse is being assigned to temporary relocation, a Permanent Change of Station (PCS), a transfer or deployment, you may find yourself regularly having to adapt to new living arrangements. You may learn a few tips along the way, but we’ve compiled a list of moving hacks that every military spouse needs to know.

Moving Hacks for Military Spouses

• Plan your move, but don’t get ahead of yourself. As soon as you hear the word “orders,” you may feel the urge to start boxing everything up and plan for a move, months before your spouse even knows where they’re being sent. If you want to start planning, make lists of everything you’ll need to do before the move so you can feel better prepared.
• Put together a moving binder. After your pre-move lists, it’s time for a moving binder. This should keep all the paperwork you’ll need such as birth certificates for everyone in the family, copies of your orders, social security cards, any mortgage documents or rental agreements, medical records you may need to reference and anything else you feel you might need.
• Pair down your belongings. As you begin to pack, ask yourself, “How much of this do I want to unpack when we get to our next location?” Should you find yourself with items you don’t feel like you’ll need in your new location, toss or donate them. You can also pack them for storage if you feel like you’ll need them again for another relocation.
• Take pictures of everything. While it’s not the norm, there is a possibility that some of your belongings can get lost in transit. Having images of all your belongings will help if you need to make a claim. Spend an hour or two going around your home or apartment and take pictures of every belonging you have.
• Take pictures of cable connections. There’s nothing more aggravating than trying to sort through an assortment of cords and cables when you just want to set up your television, computer or printer. To prevent a hassle, take a picture of all of your cable connections for an easy setup later.
• Pack small items into plastic baggies. When you start packing, it might be easy to grab everything in your drawers and toss it into a box or bin. While that’s fine for clothing and skillets, doing that with smaller items means time-consuming sorting when you get to your new home. Instead, put like-items into sealable plastic baggies to save yourself time later.
• Schedule a playdate for the kids. Moving day is stressful enough without small children running under your feet. They’ll likely want to spend time with their friends before moving anyway, so try to schedule a playdate for the day of the move.
• Call the transportation office if you have trouble with your movers. If you’re having issues with your movers (they’re damaging things, fighting or doing anything else that causes an issue), reach out to the transportation office. They should send a representative over right away to sort things out.
• Keep your “First Day Box” with you, not in the moving truck. You’ll want to put a few necessary items together in one box for when you arrive at your new assignment. This includes chargers, a change of clothes, toilet paper, etc. Then don’t let your movers put it on the truck as that will defeat the purpose.
• Get connected to your new community. There’s no better way to make a new place feel like home than to get out and meet people at your new base. This can also help the transition if you have children.

Make Military Family Relocations Easier with Find Self Storage

Find Self Storage understands that military families have a unique set of needs when it comes to storing their belongings. That’s why Find Self Storage offers a variety of military storage options for our service men and women. Our facilities offer a wide range of sizes for every need, flexible leasing terms for your next set of orders and convenient services like online bill payment. When you rent or reserve your unit, you can also ask our management team about a military storage discount.

If you find your next orders taking you to Louisiana or Texas, reserve a storage unit with Find Self Storage to make your move a breeze.