Packing Hacks for PCSing

Packing is an art, and most military families reach master status before they are back to civilian life. We found these great tips mentioned over and over again by a ton of different sites and thought they might be helpful. Chances are you’ve used some of these tips before, but if it is your first move, or you haven’t done a move in awhile, check it out!

1. Bag it up.

 Use a garbage bag to corral a whole section of hanging clothes. Then you can just transfer them to a box and easily pull them out and hang them in the new place. All without the hassle of hanger wrangling! 

2. Seriously, bag everything. 

You need to stock up on plastic sandwich and gallon bags. The brand is not important. Find the biggest box for the best price and then use them for every room. Junk drawer? Now it’s a plastic bag full of junk. The museum of art and magnets on the fridge? Seal it in a gallon bag. The one million Lego pieces floating in your kid's room? Start scooping them into bags. 

They can keep you organized and make moving lots of things, like liquids and large groups of small stuff, a breeze. They also make unpacking a dream because you can clearly see what is inside and move them to their spot in the new home without the urgent demand of sorting it right this second.

3. Take pictures.

Making memories is usually the goal, but you can also help remember things with a quick set of pics. Grab a sharpie and a handful of bags. Take pics of the way your electronics are hooked together, and then label bags and stash them in their bags. When you get to your new place, you won’t have to wonder which cord went where, or if that belongs to the DVD player or the video game console. Look at the labels and use your pics as reference for getting your entertainment system back together. 

4. Designate a safe space.

Your stuff needs a safe space. There are things you don’t want in the moving truck. There are things that can be trusted to no one but you. Find an empty closet or even a room where you can get the stuff that has to stay with you as far from the movers as possible. Put up signage. Make sure everyone knows that this stuff does not get packed.

5. Consider a sitter.

If you have small kids, consider a sitter. They can help keep the kids busy on move out day. A sitter also applies to your four-legged friends. One memorable PCS when I was a kid was delayed two days as we desperately searched for our little tabby cat TC (The Cat- we’re original over here!). 

TC, in all the scary moving, had found a nice quiet place to hide amidst the chaos. Unfortunately, it was under the neighbor’s bathtub through a hole in one of our townhouse closets. It took a little time to figure out where the meowing was coming from, but we hit the road a couple of days later and didn’t have any problems getting to our destination. Moral of the story: think about someone to watch you kitty or pup for the moving day and worry a little less about whether they got packed away (just kidding!).

Got any moving hacks you think the world should know about? We’d love to hear about what you do to make the process easier and more streamlined. Let us know in the comments!