Some PCS tips . . .

For those of you about to PCS, here are some things we learned the hard way. This will be most helpful to those of you whose stuff will be put in storage for a while.

1. If you have a credit card through USAA, tell them you're moving and they'll lower your interest rate to around 4% for the next year.
2. Make sure you take a good look at your furniture and decide what kind of state it's in. Check for any dings or scratches, worn corners, etc. Write it down, take a picture, whatever works for you. At the other end you need to assess damages and decide how much you should be reimbursed, but that's hard to do if you're not sure that it wasn't like that to begin with.
3. Schedule your move in advance so you can get the date you want. Unfortunately, you have to wait for orders to schedule your move, but do it as soon as you can. That goes for scheduling delivery to your new residence as well. When we arrived in Texas we found an apartment and called to schedule delivery, but had to wait almost two weeks before the carriers could deliver our things. If I were to do it again, I would have been brave and scheduled the delivery in advance without knowing where I would be living--in the future, we'll have a place to live before we move, so this shouldn't be an issue unless you're relocating after a TDY.
4. The people who pack your things will ask you before they leave if there is anything packed worth over $1000. This caught me off guard and I couldn't think of anything, but don't forget about furniture and appliances.
5. Someone from the nearest base (Hill) will come check on you at some point during the day. I definitely hadn't expected that. He (or she) will do a walkthrough with you and give you some pointers about what should or shouldn't be done with your things. For example, your drawers (dresser, filing cabinet, etc.) have to be emptied for transport.
6. Speaking of which, if we had known that drawers had to be empty we would have gone through some things (like our personal documents in our filing cabinet) more carefully and kept them with us rather than shipping them unprotected.
7. The packers will label each box with its contents and the room the items were in. When your stuff is delivered to your new home, the carriers are required to unpack for you if you ask them to. We chose to unpack ourselves because we didn't know where we wanted everything, but then you have to deal with boxes and tons of paper after you're unpacked. I would recommend trying to decide where you want everything before you take delivery. For example, when we were in Provo we used the baby's room as more of an office. Now the baby's room is really the baby's, so we had to relocate the office stuff. Because we didn't think about that beforehand, we had office boxes and furniture in every room of the apartment. It sounds like a small thing, but it was just one more thing to deal with. On a smaller scale, take a good look at your kitchen cabinets and decide where you want everything. They can unload your boxes while you put everything away.
8. I know that not everyone is as crazy about the way their books and movies are organized as I am, but I would highly recommend if you have them in any special order that you pack them yourself. I found books in just about every box we had. They were all on the same bookshelves, but they ended up scattered all over the place. Don't fret, though; they're all categorized and alphabetized again.
9. We had heard the stories about trash getting packed, so we were careful about that kind of stuff. However, when we arrived in Texas one of our boxes was a little leaky. They had packed an old bag of potatoes. These potatoes sat in storage for nearly two months. I don't think I need to spell out the result. Just be aware of the items in your pantry.
10. We were a bit surprised by the no liquid policy. We actually knew about it ahead of time, but we didn't realize the extent of what that encompasses. Cleaning supplies, beauty supplies, cooking stuff, etc. It basically includes aerosols and spray bottles. Things like lotions and other pumps were packed for us. It wasn't too bad for us because we did a partial DITY (or PPM), but if they're moving everything don't forget to figure out something to do with all that stuff. They also wouldn't pack our laundry detergent because they contain chemicals.
11. See if you can get people to take the stuff in your fridge if you don't want to throw it all away.
12. I had a really hard time finding a place to feed the baby, so she ended up drinking frozen milk all day. My milk hasn't been the same since. Sorry if that's TMI.
13. It's supposedly customary to provide lunch for your movers. Ours weren't there for long enough.
14. We didn't eat lunch ourselves because we weren't sure if we could leave. The movers come in two teams/shifts. The packers come and pack everything, then a few hours later the carriers come to load it on to the truck. Find an opportunity to get something to eat. Even if you don't feel hungry, you'll move slower and slower until you're ready to fall over.
15. Don't leave your wife to do it herself.

Let me know if you have any questions. Hope this helps.