The Parial DITY Move

For the month of March, we have been discussing the different types of government moves available when you or your spouse receives orders to a new duty station. Today's topic is the partial DITY move. This is the type of move that my husband and I made when relocated from California to North Carolina.

When my husband received his orders, we looked at the three types of moves available to us and felt that this one met our needs the best. At the time, it was just the two of us with two cars and a dog moving across country.

We chose to have the bulk of our items moved by the government. What that meant was that the majority of our house hold goods (HHG) were shipped by a moving company that works in tandem with the government to move military personnel and government officials. The same rules applied to our HHG as previously posted in the full government move.

The movers came and packed up all of the belongings that we identified for them to take. They were quick and efficient, although it took them two days (half of each day), to fully pack and load the HHG from a two bedroom apartment into the moving van. Our items were then taken to a storage warehouse to await transit to North Carolina.

Previous to the movers arriving, my husband and I went through our personal items and removed those that would not be moved by the government. It is important to to do this before they come so that you already know what you are taking with you. I suggest you make a list and find a corner in your home to place these items. Those items should include such things as: jewelry (you never want this to be moved by anyone other than yourself), important files and papers, bedding (you may have to wait a few days or weeks until your HHG arrives at your new home), suitcases and personal effects, any irreplaceable items that you wouldn't want to take the chance of breaking (We packed my great grandmother's china into large tubs and hauled them with us as it is a family heirloom and is not replaceable if broken). We also brought a television and our surround sound system.

Since it was just my husband and I with our dog, we rented a trailer to haul behind our truck and placed our car on it. This may not be feasible for everyone. Prior to loading any of our items, with a full tank of gas in the vehicle, my husband had our truck pulling the trailer weighed and a weigh station. This is important as it is how the government determines how much of an allotment you are going to receive. He then returned to our apartment and loaded up both the bed of the truck and the empty vehicle being towed on the trailer. He then had to go back and reweigh the vehicles.

He also had picked up our operating allowance from the dispersing office on base. He took advantage of this type of move by requesting advanced funds to be provided for our move.

Weighing your vehicles after packing them up is an important step to this process. This is what determines how much you will be reimbursed minus any advanced funds already provided to you. You can make a profit off of this type of move if you are smart and budget wisely. Here are the things that are included in the money provided by the government for you:

• payment for rental vehicles/trailer
• packing materials
• moving equipment (dollies and hand trucks)
• gas and oil costs (so keep your receipts!)
• Highway tolls and other transportation expenses related to your DITY move

Once we made it to our new duty station, we had 45 days to turn in all of our applicable receipts from our partial DITY move in order to submit a full payment claim for our moving allowance.

If you are considering a partial or full DITY move, go to www.military.com/finance/pcs-moving-guide/moving/comprehensive-look-at-a-dity-move.html to find all of the paperwork you will need for these types of moves. It also provides a step by step list on what to do for your move. Good Luck!

Next week's posting will be on Wednesday for OUTCONUS moves.