With a quick look at the calendar, you’ll see we're about to hit the heart of military move season. Those toasty summer days ahead are often filled to the brim with PCS packing, travel, and unpacking.
Before you begin to feel overwhelmed, steep some soothing tea and follow along. Here are five resources to help make your PCS a smooth transition.
Plan Ahead!
If you have downtime right now, it's a good opportunity to build the framework for a PCS binder. With a 3-ringed folder of wonder, you’ll have an official spot to collect crucial documents. From the paperwork from each child’s school to the records from Mr. Whisker's veterinarian, having a binder in hand will help you keep it all together. As shared in MilitaryByOwner’s Quick and Easy Steps to Prepare for Your PCS Move ebook, there’s nothing like the feeling of being prepared.
When it’s full steam ahead with your upcoming move, you and your military family can trek forward with excitement and anticipation rather than worry or stress. Laying out plans in advance might bring you a sense of cheerful sunshine, no matter what is happening with the weather outside.
Prepare Your Children
For anyone, military or not, moving from one city or state to another is an emotionally significant event. All too often, the youngest among us have a difficult time understanding the changes that are taking place. In MilitaryByOwner’s ebook, Avoid PCS Move Wipeout, the writers share helpful ways to make this time of transition easier for children. From tots to teens, this download offers a busy parent like you handy hints to keep an optimistic outlook, even if your moving experience has you feeling exhausted!
For example, have a happy hiker in your family? Describe the new parks and trails there are to explore. Does your tribe include a budding musician or rising athlete? Look up opportunities in the new area for your shining stars to further enhance their skills. Having an upbeat perspective as you plan and prepare may help ease the goodbyes ahead. With a healthy focus on the positives, a military move can feel more like a new beginning for your family.
What’s for Dinner? EVERYTHING!
As suggested in MilitaryByOwner’s Overseas PCS Survival Guide, while downsizing your belongings, it’s also a good idea to clean out your kitchen cupboards. However, there’s no need to cook up a storm in grand buffet style! When you know the date that the packing crew will arrive, your daily meal plans until that point can center on emptying the freezer and pantry.
For example, serving breakfast for dinner helps gobble up the pancake mix, syrup, link sausage, fancy jelly, and pop’n’fresh biscuits. Rather than the same ole, same ole tuna sandwiches, experiment with a recipe for a creamy, lemon-infused sauce and dish it up with the pasta you have on hand. That ordinary rice on your shelf could be combined with cinnamon and coconut milk to make a pudding of comfort food caliber. Top that pudding with frozen fruit and it’s a gourmet dessert created from goods that need to go!
Having home-cooked meals will not only use up your pantry staples but can help ease your pre-move budget. Also, eating-in could stir more quality time with your dear ones. Gathering around the table might bring family-wide discussions of the changes ahead, especially if headed on an overseas adventure.
Make a List and Check it Twice
At this point in your military move, you’ve probably surpassed the status of “to do” lists and now have a full fledged “what not to forget” ledger! That’s where the convenient checklists in MilitaryByOwner’s Bloom Where PCS Plants You ebook come in handy. Compare your notes with the important tips that the writers included in this easy read.
For example, whether moving out of a Boston brownstone or moving into a Washington, D.C. walk-up, you’ll need a permit for your moving van. Those big trucks take up a good amount of space, and you won’t want to add a violation to your PCS expenses! Having practical points like this in mind, you’ll feel more prepared on your moving day, and also when arriving at your destination.
Keep Your Sense Of Humor
During your PCS, while in TLF or extended stay lodging, your TV channel surfing may lead to popular home improvement shows. Have you ever wanted to share YOUR story with the designers? I often feel compelled to tell Jonathan and Drew, “Yes, that designer accessory does pull the whole room together. But, I’m not hip to the heartache it’ll bring when it’s crumpled in a military storage facility.”
If your military moving experiences have been anything like ours, you’ve had your household goods face the frustration of an overworked moving crew. Maybe it’s your boxes crushed beneath your washing machine? Perhaps it’s your couch that now has a gash in its side? Possibly it’s the “It was like that when I found it” statement from a moving crewmember? No matter what, you’ll quickly learn to expect the unexpected!
Similar to the milspouse stories collected by MilitaryByOwner in this ebook, You Gotta Laugh: Funny PCS Stories That We Had to Share, through it all, you have to find the humor in life. Even in the midst of the most unusual of situations, it helps if you know the highs and lows of PCS season make good stories to laugh about, later!
With the tried-and-true guidance included in each of MilitaryByOwner’s FREE ebooks, you’ll embark on a military move with fewer moments of “fail” and more family fun!
