Ways Military Members Keep Their Belongings Secure During Constant Moves

Moving is generally considered to be one of the more stressful life events that the average person can face throughout their lives. However, for most, a move will only tend to happen once in a blue moon when they choose to upscale their home or move to a new location for work, etc. For military personnel, however, what is a very infrequent experience for most will often be the norm. Many members of the military will face the need to move relatively frequently due to a range of factors, all of which are related to the unique occupation they have chosen to sign up for. While they may not have a say in why, where, or how they move, it’s still possible to maintain control over your belongings and ensure that they arrive at the new destination intact and securely. 

Storage Solutions During Transitions

We begin with some advice that is equally relevant to those in civilian life as it might be for those in the armed forces, namely, to store most of your belongings in a secure facility until you choose to retrieve them. Self-storage of this kind can be so valuable because it allows more time to prioritize which steps are most crucial to the move, without needing to get rid of too many belongings you might want to keep. According to SpareFoot over at https://www.sparefoot.com/military-storage.html, members of the military face deployments to foreign countries for significant amounts of time, long-term training, and even a PCS move, which can really upend your life. But by opting to store the things you have spent a lifetime acquiring in a dedicated storage solution, without worrying about how safe they’ll be or in which condition they’ll be stored, you can keep your mind focused on the task at hand and start to build up your new life more efficiently. 

Pre-Move Preparation

If you’re in the armed forces, then you are probably fairly adept with the five Ps: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. As anyone who has served can and will likely tell you, this is not always the case, but the fact remains that with a little pre-move prep, you can ensure that things go far smoother than otherwise. How you go about this will heavily depend on the reason you’re moving and where to, but in pretty much all scenarios, quality prep time can go a long way.

Inventory And Documentation

Before partaking in any move, significant or otherwise, you really ought to spend enough time inventorying your belongings and ensuring that all of your vital documents are safe and in order. This is pretty straightforward these days, as you can use free tools like Google Sheets or even the dreaded Excel to keep things orderly. And, the more you’re able to keep things in order, the less likely it is that you’ll arrive at your new base and face the feeling of your blood draining from your body when you realize you’ve sent your papers and belongings to a different location. It also means that you can ensure that you can hold the moving company responsible for anything that was checked in but either hasn’t arrived or arrived broken.

Decluttering And Prioritizing

Although this might not be specifically linked to keeping your belongings secure per se, the point of decluttering and donating surplus clutter to those in need is so that you can reduce your pile into something more manageable and easier to transport.

Secure Packing Techniques

Using the right materials to pack your effects will go a long way in keeping them safe during transit and while they’re being moved around your new accommodation. For most of your stuff, your standard cardboard box will suffice. But there will be some items that require a touch more finesse and may need bubble wrap and paper to keep them safe from the rigors they’ll face during transportation. Aside from the packaging materials themselves, the way you pack can go a long way in ensuring everything arrives at the destination just as it left. Some common mistakes to avoid include:

• Overpacking: Far too many folks will overpack to save money on packing materials, or simply because they believe it speeds up what is, let’s be honest, a very unfun experience. The problem is that doing so makes it more likely that things will break during transit.
• No labels: Forgetting or failing to label contents and the destination room might not necessarily mean they will arrive broken, but it does make unpacking that bit more time-consuming. Remember that preparation done at the front end will always save time on the backend.
• Mixing items: It should go without saying, but packing your sensitive electronic items with the floor cleaner is a terrible idea.
• Ignoring weight limits: Some removal companies will have weight limits on what their trucks can carry and what their employees can lift. Ignoring these limits might not just result in damage, but could also leave you no recourse for compensation since you flouted their Ts&Cs.

Transportation Options

The way you transport your worldly goods can vary and particularly so if you’re in the military. It might be the case that you’re able to utilize military transportation to move things around, while in other cases, it may be more convenient to use a private company. This will depend on your circumstances, reason for the move, and whether you’re actually able to get government support for the move. You may also be advised by your superiors of a preferred method of moving, which you may have to comply with. Generally speaking, if it’s connected with your job, the military should cover it (even if you have to pay). But for other situations, like if you’re moving privately, you might find that hiring a private removals company is your best option, thanks to the speed and efficiency that the private sector tends to have over the public.

You have plenty of choices when it comes to moving and keeping your belongings safe and sound, and if you’re a member of the military, you may even be entitled to government assistance. As long as you heed the tips in this post and prepare as much as possible, you should find your move smooth and hassle-free.