staying organized during a PCS: part three

I've written before about the two notebooks that we use religiously during our moves.  We love these notebooks so much that we've nicknamed them Big Blue and Little Blue.  Today I'm going to share another hint to staying organized on your move: the first-to-unpack box.

Just like its name implies, this box contains everything you'll need when you get to the new house.  It STINKS to be in an empty home, in a new town with 100 boxes and missing something important - like scissors to open your boxes!  You'll never know where the movers put it!

The first-to-unpack box (or boxes, if you pack more than one) is the usually the last box you tape up at your old house and the last box to go on the truck.  Or you can even have it in your POV.  Here's an idea of what we usually have in ours.  Asterisks indicate something that I'll need as soon as I get into the house, but won't be able to put in the box.  For instance, moving trucks won't take any liquids or chemicals, so we put those in our car for the move.

First To Unpack:

• Toilet paper (one per bathroom)
• Hand soap (one per bathroom)
• Hand towel (one per bathroom)
• Trash bags
• Paper Plates, Plastic Cups, Plastic cutlery, napkins
• Paper towels
• Scissors/Box Cutter
• Swiss Army Knife 
• Phone/iPad/Computer Chargers
• Snacks
• Flashlight
• Bandaids, Tylenol, etc. 
• Printer Paper/Sharpie (label each room so the movers know where to put the boxes)
• Cleaning Supplies**
• Vacuum**

Second To Unpack:

• Shower curtain (and hooks)/bathroom rug
• Toiletries
• Bath towels (one per family member)
• Sheets and blankets
• Coffee pot/tea pot (if you require that first thing in the morning)

Additionally, here's a list of things you'll want to do soon after arriving at the house.

• Clean bathrooms and kitchen (probably just a quick swish as they should be cleaned before you arrive)
• Label each room so boxes get put in the correct room (if you have movers)
• Put trashcan/bag in kitchen (and in bathrooms?)
• Put toilet paper, soap and hand towels in each bathroom (and the shower curtain if you're staying the night there)
• Put dish soap and dish towel in kitchen
• Vacuum where furniture will be (if it's dirty - you'll probably need to vacuum the whole house after the movers are finshed bringing things in)
• Wipe down fridge
• Put sheets/blankets on the bed

What am I missing?  Anyone else have good moving tips to share??

p.s. the giveaway for The Tender Soldier is open for three more days!  I consider it a must-read for all Americans.



Staying Organized During a PCS - Part One
Staying Organized During a PCS - Part Two

staying organized during a PCS (part 2)

Last week I wrote about one of our tricks to stay organized during a PCS (move for the military), which was a big three-ring binder to hold all our paperwork.  Today I'm sharing another one.  After all, organization is half the battle during a move!

In addition to "Big Blue" (the 3-ring binder) we also have a Steno Pad (our last one was blue so, of course, we named it "Little Blue".  Stupid names, but they worked for us!).  As soon as we find out we're moving, I go buy a new Steno Pad and it stays with me for the next two months.  Here's why:

We document everything.

Seriously.

We document everything.

From the very beginning of our move, we take notes, compile lists, save phone numbers/addresses and more in Little Blue.

This sounds silly, right?  I mean, after all, it's the age of technology!  Of iPhones and tablets and who needs paper anymore?  Well, people in the midst of a move do!  :)

Like with Big Blue, it's about having the information you need all in the same place.  Instead of keeping track of packing lists, calendars, shopping lists, phone numbers and more, I just have to keep track of the Steno Pad.  If you carry a purse regularly, make sure you get one that fits in your purse so you don't lose it!

I can't tell you how many times we've written something down that we are SURE we'll remember, but we faithfully write it down anyway.  And it always ends up that we need it later.  The meme above is silly, but it's our exact philosophy when it comes to the Steno Pad!

Yes, this is a simple piece of advice, but it is so helpful!

Here's an idea of the things we wrote down with our last move:

• contact information (name, phone number/address) for anyone connected with our move.  This also included any estimates we got from companies so that we could easily compare later on.
• moving companies
• truck rental
• TMO office (the people who handle moves in the military)
• housing office at new base
• hotels along the road (including confirmation numbers)
• Caleb's sponsor at new base
• packing lists
• last items to pack at old house (e.g. bath towels, shower curtain, etc)
• items that travel with us in the car (e.g. cleaning supplies and plants)
• first items to unpack at new house (e.g. toilet paper, hand towels, soap, paper plates, etc)
• grocery lists/shopping lists
• a list of basic necessities to buy at new house (e.g. milk and eggs)
• meal lists
• plan basic easy meals like boxed mac and cheese that use basic ingredients so you start emptying your kitchen (especially refrigerated foods)
• to-do list (multiple copies updated frequently and perhaps organized in the following categories)
• by date (i.e. a mini calendar to take with you)
• by necessity (i.e. must be done TODAY)
• by person responsible
• by location (e.g. on base errands, new town errands, etc)
• cleaning lists (trust me, if you live in base housing you'll definitely need a list for this!)

That's just a sampling of the things that we wrote down while we were moving.  Trust me, spending $2 on a Steno Pad will be well worth it!  By the time your move is over, you'll be use to carrying around this notebook and a pen at all times and will be swearing by this method too!  ;)

Staying Organized During a PCS - Part One
Staying Organized During a PCS - Part Three

staying organized during a PCS (part 1)

When you're in the military, moving is just a way of life.  I grew up moving, so I learned a lot of tricks from my parents and I've passed some of those along to my husband (like how to pack a box of dishes so none of them break!).  We moved to our current base about a year ago and this became my eleventh home!  And I'm only 25!

Organization is vital during a PCS (permanent change of station)!  If you're like me, you like to be organized all the time.  But when half your home is packed away in boxes and the other half is in random piles that are supposed to make sense to you, it's kinda nice to have a system to stay organized.

Here's our secret: a three ring binder

Yep.

We love our's so much that we even named it:  Big Blue (any guesses as to it's color??;)

Moving (especially in the military) means lots of paperwork.  Instead of trying to keep track of all the separate papers, we stick them all in Big Blue and then we just have to remember it!  If you've ever heard of the FLYLady, Big Blue is loosely based on her control journal.

Big Blue has page protectors and it has a couple binder pouches too.  The page protectors hold all the paperwork.  Here are some examples: copies of my husband's orders, copies of our marriage certificate, copies of birth certificate, printout of hotel reservations, maps to our location, copies of driver's licenses, reservation of moving truck, leasing agreement, **birthday/anniversary cards, map of the new base, etc.

**about a month before our move, we buy cards and get them stamped and addressed.  then i put a sticky note on the front with the date it needs to be mailed so we have one less thing to think about during those crazy weeks.

One of the binder pouches hold little things like our passports, stamps, random keys, etc.  The other is where we put all receipts pertaining to our move.  When my husband is in-processing to a new base, he needs those receipts so we make sure that every single one goes directly in Big Blue!  So far, we've never lost one!

Big Blue rides with us in the truck/car which means it's easily accessible at all times and,  at nights, it goes into the hotel with us.  It might seem like overkill to have printouts of everything (maps, hotel reservations, etc) because most of those things can be accessed online these days.  But let's be honest.  Murphy's Law seems especially true during a move.  One time we got to our hotel and their whole computer system was down, but since we had a printout with our confirmation we were able to still get into our room.  The LAST thing you want at the end of a long day of traveling is to have a technology fail.  The maps have come in handy at times when the 3G on our phones wasn't working well (i.e. driving through rural Arkansas).

Anyone else have moving tips to share?? :)

 Staying Organized During a PCS - Part Two
Staying Organized During a PCS - Part Three

all about our PCS (part 2)

Arrival At New Base


Whereas we've lived off-base in an apartment here in Biloxi, we have decided to live in base housing at our new base.  However, a house won't be available upon our arrival.  It might take a week or so before a house is available for us (this is very common).  It is not so bad for us because it is just Mr. Mays and me.  But imagine waiting around for several weeks with multiple children and pets with only a few suitcases full of things!


In order to make the transition smoother, the AF bases have TLFs (temporary lodging facilities) for these families.  They vary base-to-base, but they are basically like full-equipped little apartments (complete with kitchens, washers/dryers, etc).  In the event that all the TLFs are full, the hotels on base are also available to house people in transition.  In a hotel, you don't have all the amenities, but you are still taken care of.  So...we will be waiting around for a few days (?) and living in one of these temporary locations.


Since we are doing a DITY move (and will have all of our things with us), we will have to rent a storage unit to hold our things until our house is available.  Obviously this is not ideal.  But if the AF had moved us, they would have put our things in storage and it would have taken longer to get them once we got access to our house.  At least if we do the storage unit on our own, we will be able to get our things out of storage on our own time instead of waiting!  :)


Mr. Mays will check into the new base and then be given "permissive TDY" (up to 10 days off to find a house, get moved in and get his family settled before having to start regular work).  He'll have a list of things to do on base in order to "check-in" (submit receipts from the move, make sure medical records and finances are transferred, etc)


And then...we officially live there. :)


It is times like this when Mr. Mays is very, very glad that he married a girl who grew up moving.  ;)  This will be my eleventh home in less than 25 years so I've had a lot of experience packing up boxes.

all about our PCS (part 1)

Subtitle:  Moving with the Air Force


While we have been preparing to move in the past few weeks, we have had many, many changes to the original plan.  Since my family and friends have been asking, I have been trying to explain everything (mostly over texting).  That was getting a little difficult, so I decided to write out an abbreviated explanation of our move.  It is confusing and involves lots of acronyms, but I'll do my best to make it clear and only include the important details  Here goes nothing!!  :)


Preparing For the Move
Moving in the Air Force is called a PCS (permanent change of station).  When you find out that you are moving, you get two dates.  The first is the date that you are scheduled to leave your current base (called your "final out") and the second is called your RNLTD (report no later than date - this is the date by which you absolutely must have checked in with your new base).


Then you have a short check-list of things to do.  For instance, if you are going overseas OR if you have any special medical conditions (that's me) you have to be medically cleared each time you travel to a new base and the new base's medical group has to 'accept' you.  This is to make sure that they can provide the care that you need.  So it is a good thing...it just means that it take even longer to get moved (the clearance process takes at least 2-3 extra weeks)!


Once you finish all the things on the short check-list, you are waiting on your orders, the piece of paper that officially says where the AF needs you to be.  I call the orders the "golden ticket" (a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) because absolutely nothing can be done without this paper.  Once the orders come in, you can make arrangements for the move by talking to TMO (traffic management office - the people who handle all moves to and from a certain base)


There are three different options when it comes to actually moving your things.


Option 1:  TMO can arrange to have movers come to your house, pack everything in your house, transport it to the next location and drop it off in your new house.  If we were going overseas, we would HAVE to do this option.


Option 2: Partial DITY (partial do-it-yourself move) means that TMO arranges movers who come and pack up MOST of your things, transports and drops it off in your new house.  You are then responsible for driving your vehicles to the new location and you can bring certain things with you that you don't want the movers to transport.  This was our original plan for this move.


Option 3:  DITY, also called PPM (personally procured move) means that you pack up all your items, you find a way to transport them and you unload them at the next location.


As I said before, our original plan was to do a partial DITY.  However, (due to various reasons) TMO couldn't get movers to us until after his RNLTD.  We could have amended orders (asking to stay here for longer), but we had already done that once and we didn't feel it was worth it to wait for all the paperwork to go back through just to sit here for an extra few weeks.


Instead, we decided to do a DITY move.  Which means that we are busy packing up our house and arranging other details.  :)  The AF covers our expenses (either by an allowance we've already been given or by reimbursing us based on our receipts) including things like packing supplies, renting a truck, etc.