Operation DO NOT PACK

14. November 2010 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I actually blogged about this a little back in 2008.

Moving preparations continue. We are at T-3 days until the packers come. T-9 days until we leave the area.

We are starting to gather the items we don’t want the movers to pack. Some of the items are for our personal use for the week of homelessness. Clothing, towels, school-related items, paperwork, DVDs, a small TV, some lawn chairs. Many of the items are for security reasons: jewelry, photographs, my violin, our Wii system, insurance policies.

In North Carolina, it was easy to put the items in a room: Timmy was outgrowing his toddler bed, so sold it. We then moved Timmy’s stuff into Jacob’s room and the guest room we had. You can see the picture in the link above of how full it got.

It wasn’t so easy here. Our current “Do Not Pack” room has our full-sized guest bed disassembled and propped up it’s edge. It’s going into the living room just before the movers come. So far our room has the important paperwork, sleeping bags, air mattress, my violin, my worm bin, some cleaning supplies.

From 2010 11 11 PCS2010

When the packers arrive on Tuesday, the room will be closed off, with a giant blue masking tape “X” across the door.

There will be some other items that can’t necessarily go into that room that also won’t be packed. Dave’s train layout, Howie’s dog dish, the couch we’re trying to sell on Craig’s List. That’s where these will come in handy:

From 2010 11 11 PCS2010

I printed them out the other night — 4 “DO NOT PACK” statements to a sheet — and had the boys cut the strips for me. They had fun with this. I’ll probably let Jacob go around the house taping them in place on Monday.

The Vollmer PCS Binder (TM)

12. November 2010 · Comments Off on The Vollmer PCS Binder (TM) · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

T-10 Days and counting….

I was thinking about new things to blog about regarding this particular move and it was a friend from North Carolina (Hi Faith T.!) who inspired me about my next post: The Vollmer PCS Binder (TM).

So, I’m sure you’re wondering, “Major Mom, what, pray tell, IS The Vollmer PCS Binder (TM)?”

It’s how we keep sane! It’s how we have all the answers at our fingertips!

It starts your car! It butters your bread! It scrubs your toilets!

Okay…maybe not.

Here is the binder from when we arrived here in 2008.  We probably didn’t have to be so fancy with the cover…but it was fun to do.  I wish I had a picture of the one from 2005 with Mr. Wuf on it.

From 2010 11 11 PCS Binder

And here’s the binder now (ran out of color printer ink).

From 2010 11 11 PCS Binder

It’s a 2″ ring binder with those clear pockets on the cover so we could easily change out the cover for each move. We’ve been using this particular binder since our move between Ohio and Florida in 2002 and we just change out the cover each time.

What’s inside? We populate it with indexed pages and clear document protectors.

Our current divider tabs are for:

1.) Orders: Everyone who needs to know about your move will want a copy of your orders.

2.) Household Goods (the items the moving company will pick up): This is where you can store the Government Bills of Lading, the itemized lists of boxes packed and items loaded onto the moving truck, and claims forms.

3.) Do-It-Yourself-Move (the items we’re moving ourselves in our vehicles): In our case, we are renting a U-Haul trailer, so the paperwork related to that will be stored in here.  Also, you have to weigh your vehicles empty and full…we’ll keep the weight tickets in this section.

4.) Travel Documents: Passports (if we were traveling overseas) and hotel reservations for our stops en route.

5.) Lease/Utilities: This is where I keep verification documents related to turning off utilities at our current house, and verification of turning on utilities at our new house.

6.) School Documents: We have medical paperwork for the boys’ new school registration, as well as paperwork related to the boys’ new school.

And you simply fill the document protectors thusly:

From 2010 11 11 PCS Binder
From 2010 11 11 PCS Binder

If you’re a military family member, consider this tactic for keeping all the important documents in one place.  We’ve relied on it for 8 years now and it’s helped us out so much!
NOTE: I have to admit, with our iPhones, Dave and I don’t keep quite as much paperwork in this binder as we used to.  I have an e-mail folder called “PCS” and that’s where I’m dropping all of our utility confirmations and hotel reservations.  We can access this information from our iPhones even while on the road.
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