How to organize a military relocation?
How toNovember 7, 2020
Military life is rife with relocations. It is, fortunately (or unfortunately) the way of life in the military. If this is your first time going through the process, you might have some doubts about how exactly to organize a military relocation. It goes without saying that the first thing that you will need is to find good military movers. Then you will have to do some legwork on your own in order to prepare for the upcoming move. There will be a lot to do, and plenty of tasks to accomplish, so it is always advisable to start early. This article is going to detail the most important parts of the process of organizing your military move.
Organize a military relocation with ease – Useful tips
Here is the list of thing that you need to have in mind:
- Let your family know about the move
- Hire a professional moving company as soon as possible
- Determine your moving budget and create an ultimate moving checklist
- Gather moving boxes and pack seasonal items well in advance
- Contact utility providers
- Gather necessary documents

Let your family know about the move
First of all, never “hide” the relocation of your family. Even if you know it might be hard for them to even think about relocating. If you wait until the last moment to spring the topic, you may invoke some really nasty emotions. It is always better to talk it through over time than just to provide an ultimatum. So, before you even look into movers Columbus, talk to your family. Work with them through all the necessities of the relocation. Assuage their fears and concerns. But above all, stay calm, collected, and patient. There may be various tantrums going on around the house but you need to be the pillar that is staying true in all that chaos.
Practice some of that famous military discipline and remain confident at all times. Answer all the questions and try to make some small compromises but never bring the necessity of the relocation into question. It is what it is, after all, and everyone is going to have to adjust to it. It is understandable if you don’t want to go through all of that but it really is the best option. Otherwise, keeping the information about relocation under lock and key might create some long-lasting resentments. And you don’t really want to have to deal with them.
Hire a professional moving company as soon as you can!
Another thing that you need to do as soon as you know about the relocation is to book professional movers. You are going to need their services in any case and booking early will all but guarantee the date and time that you want. You will also have much more time to deal with other matters if you get into the “relocation mood” early. Speaking of time, your movers can save you quite a bit of it. If you have a lot of items to pack and not the time for it, simply hire their packing services and focus on other matters. Coordinate your relocation with your movers and ask them for moving advice specific to your situation. They are the experts, after all, and their advice will always be right on point.

Determine your moving budget and create an ultimate moving checklist
Your move is going to cost, no way around that. Even if you have the military paying for your relocation, there will still be things that you will have to do on your own. What you may want to do is to formulate a moving budget for your relocation. That way, you will know how much money you can spend on various conveniences. Moving is all about convenience, to tell you the truth. The more money you pour into it, the more convenient it will be.
For example, let’s say that you want to renovate your new place once you get there. You are going to have to move your furniture and other belongings out of the way multiple times in order to do so. But if you rent a military storage unit where you will place your items, for the time being, it becomes much more convenient. Having a set budget will allow you to consider these options. Or discard the ones that you can’t afford.
Gather moving boxes and pack seasonal items well in advance
If you are doing the packing on your own, you are going to need some containers. Moving boxes are really easy to come by, you can simply visit your local stores and ask if they have some to spare. Mention that you are in the military or, even better, wear your uniform, and you will have plenty of free boxes in no time. Use these boxes to pack all of your seasonal items as soon as possible. Doing this early will allow you to save time later on. You are not going to need those items anytime soon, anyway.

Contact utility providers in order to properly organize a military relocation
You are going to need utilities in your new home from day one. In order to achieve this, start contacting your current providers and see if you can transfer their services to the new location. Or cancel them and contact the providers at your new place. The utility transfer procedures vary by company but are usually straightforward. However, make sure that you at least know early what is it that you will need to do. You don’t want to be in a situation where you need a week to transfer a utility and you only have a day left.
Gather necessary documents
Finally, you are going to need to gather all of the documents you need for your relocation. Try to compile this list as soon as possible (notice a trend here) and figure out how much time you need to obtain each document. Try to allow for any delays or accidents, as well. Whenever you need to deal with paperwork sooner rather than later is always better.