It is no secret that military families move often and my family has lived in over 12 different houses over the last 16 years. I may be missing one or two in that calculation actually. We have been lucky to spend a few years here and there but over all the years have seen us on the go a great deal.
This may shock you but….
Moving with kids isn’t easy!
They have feelings about these many moves and lives they have to let go of and friends they have to keep in touch with. Not to mention the sheer fact that sometimes they are just literally underfoot while you are moving heavy boxes. So when asked how to help kids with moves my advice is to #1 let them help pack their own things if possible and #2 Let someone watch them for you! I know a few military wives that always send their kids off to Grandmas for a week while Mom and Dad handle the move! Wise! Though that is not always and option and has never been one for us. A girl can dream for next time though right?
How do you find the best place to live?
This is a question I get asked often. Living on a military post is not always possible and certainly not an option for all my friends who are not part of the military. While there are some great sites out there for looking for rentals, sometimes finding a house is harder. When a friend from Canada asked me about how I found the amazing house we live in now I told her online on craigslist and suggested she check out Vancouver Kijiji to see what they might have in her area. Don’t be afraid to go right to the home owners and express what your looking for! Don’t settle either, the place needs to be home and you need to not be miserable! For the same amount of money we got a home with over 1k more square feet and huge beautiful rooms. Of course it is a bit further than the perfect cookie cutter homes we saw, and it has a bit of work that needs to be done on it, but it has a huge yard and we do love it.
Yes, you can move yourself!
It saves us a lot of money actually even though we move thousands of pounds for our 6 family members worth of stuff. It may seem daunting but it is well worth it. Nothing gets stolen or broken simply because someone else doesn’t know how precious your things are, or don’t care enough about them. You love your stuff so you take good care of it all! Driving a truck isn’t as hard as it sounds and the truck rental places hand over the keys to about anyone who can legally drive!
I hope your future moves go well and as always if you have any questions, just let me know. Here in my bed now relaxing.
Excellent tips! I am moving next months with my kids and your advises are very helpful. Thanks for sharing