Leaving an Army post - final week preparations
It’s Dec 11th and we’re officially eight days away from leaving our current Army Post. Today, I’m going to walk you through all of our last week preparations and as a bonus - I’m attaching a free printable at the end of the blog post! A “posting out” checklist which you can use for your next relocation (I know I will!) and hopefully just a tiny bit of the stress of moving will be lifted from your shoulders.
Many of these are the same preparations we’ve made to leave previous rental houses, but there’s an added element to travel between Army posts. There’s paperwork to fill out, farewells to be made and a constant back and forth between serving members and Army contractors/housing reps. to negotiate packing and shipping of household items, vehicles and pets. Posts are often several states apart, travel for which, involves traversing the entire country - rather than simply crossing a state line. It’s a trying experience no matter how many times you’ve done it. Many of our friends here have been in the Army for 20+ years and find the cross-country moves just as tiring and tedious as they did in the beginning of their career. I am extremely grateful however, that we won’t need to pack ourselves. I’ve been responsible for packing our home for a move more than once (and at least once while heavily pregnant) and nothing could possibly be more stressful or exhausting when you’re already mentally juggling all the details of the move and maybe also physically juggling the needs of your tired, overwhelmed family.
Without further ado: here is what we need to tackle in the next week and please God, give us the strength to do it!
I like to divide ‘leaving responsibilities’ into three categories: things to do in the house, things to do in the garden and things to do for the family.
Things to do in the house
My list of things to do in the house first and foremost includes purging and organising our belongings. Every Defence wife knows that this process actually begins months before removal, but it gets real in the final countdown to leaving day. I systematically work my way through homewares, entertainment items, kids toys and all of our clothing to create three piles: keep, dispose of or donate. We have a hard and fast rule in our home that anything we’ve grown tired of and don’t want anymore gets popped away in a dark cupboard (out of sight, out of mind) and left until the end of the year. If the owner of the belonging hasn’t gone into the cupboard to fetch it any time that year, it gets donated or sent to the tip. This keeps our clutter to a minimum and gives us a chance to see what physical belongings are truly important to each of us.
Next up is appliances/laundry. We take care to clean and drain all the appliances in wet areas and launder EVERYTHING in the house that could possibly need a good wash. Both of these for one reason alone: I hate mould with a passion. We’ve had some more than unpleasant experiences in the past with damp, mouldy homes and my absolute worst nightmare would be to have all of my appliances/boxes of linen and clothes unloaded off of a truck after multiple weeks sitting in blistering heat, only to find that my dishwasher, fridge or bath towels have sprouted their own ecosystem in my absence. For us, this looks like:
Dishwasher
We run a final load of dishes through the dishwasher the night before we leave, then run an empty load using a commercial dishwasher cleaner (after the filter has been cleaned of course) and leaving the door open overnight to allow leftover water to evaporate. We’ll also disconnect and drain the hose before we leave.
Refrigerator
The refrigerator will be emptied entirely by the night before (setting aside a few breakfast things for the next day that don’t strictly need refrigeration) and thoroughly cleaned, also turned off and doors wedged ajar to prevent odours/mold growth.
Clothes dryer
We own a condenser dryer, so cleaning involves emptying and thoroughly rinsing the water collector and allowing it to dry. The conditioner will also need to be thoroughly rinsed under a tap and the lint filter emptied.
Washing machine
I’ll launder everything I possibly can in the week before uplift, including: towels, bed sheets, clothes, dish cloths and cushion covers so that nothing damp or stained is being packed into boxes by our movers. Any stragglers, I’ll throw in a garbage bag and bring in the car with us to wash once we reach our temporary accommodation. We own a front loader machine and while I love it, I’ve yet to figure out how to thoroughly clean the rubber gasket in the front opening. I’ve heard you can remove it? I’m terrified to try though in case I can’t get it back on. Hmm .. I’ll keep working on that one, for now, a good scrub with a brush will have to do and I’ll run an empty hot load with a few capfuls of vinegar before we leave it with the door ajar.
General cleaning
There are two areas left to tackle after purging belongings and cleaning appliances and those are the general cleaning and pre-pack of clothes. We typically hire a bond cleaner these days (with three kids who make complete and utter chaos, literally faster than I can clean it up, there’s no way I can get the home ship shape before we’re all out of it). So I do the essentials to leave the home tidy before a bond cleaner gives it a deep clean. Vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing scuff marks off walls and giving toilets and showers a once over are typically what I’ll do before we walk out the door.
Pre-pack clothes
The last item to check off the home list is packing clothes: this one is fairly self explanatory; Defence contracted movers won’t pack clothing or personal items for you, so in addition to packing suitcases, all unneeded clothing/bedding and toiletries will need to be boxed up in preparation for movers to pack everything else.
Things to do in the garden
We’ll work through this list for the last month or so before we relocate. Priorities in the yard include: weeding garden beds, mowing lawns, watering plants, pressure cleaning concrete areas and council garbage bins. We also dismantle all outdoor furniture and kids play equipment and stow it in the garage (plus give it a pressure clean if needed). Finally, we load our trailer (or you could rent a small skip/borrow a ute etc.) with every large item to be disposed of and take it to the closest tip. I honestly didn’t think we’d have so much to get rid of this year, but I suppose any parent will tell you that kids burn through stuff FAST. Not to mention our poor trampoline that was a casualty of recent severe weather.
Things to do for the family
My priority for each family member this week is to pack travel bags and make sure that everyone has had a chance to say farewell to each person that is special to them. Similar to air travel; we typically each have one carry bag with necessities or special toys in it (laptops, journals, planners, phones and chargers for hubby and I) and one large suitcase of clothes per two family members.
I’ll also redirect all incoming mail; Australia Post has a brilliant mail redirection service, or if we haven’t yet received a new address, we’ll redirect our mail to the closest family in the interim (with their permission of course!). But let’s face it, it’s the 21st Century - just about any paperwork we receive on the regular is sent via email, there are only two or three companies who still send us paper documents.
We’ll make sure all paperwork is in order re; incoming and outgoing Army Post, travel directives, removalist appointments, new home and of course the children’s schools.
Lastly, I’ll make a thorough checklist of everything that we need to do once we reach our new destination. Examples for our family include: updating home/vehicle insurance details, changing drivers licence and car registration, making dental/optometry appointments, touring new schools/buying uniforms and school supplies, having power/internet connected at our new address, purchasing ambulance cover and updating voter enrolments.
There we have it, my week in a nutshell. Now that I’ve thoroughly procrastinated by writing this post - I need to go dive in…wish me luck!
Don’t forget to grab your copy of my checklist (download linked below picture) if frequent moves are in your future and let me know if I’ve left anything off that you’d like to see on there :)
Jessi
