Have you ever packed for a trip and also tossed into the suitcase outfits for your kids’ first day of school, parkas, swimsuits, a ballgown, a can opener, and an interview suit? If you’re a military spouse, the answer might be yes! Every military move our family has done so far has involved several months in transition, different climates, and a variety of special events. We also know firsthand by now that the shipment of household goods that is transported by the moving company just might be delayed by many weeks, show up ruined by mold, or even go missing entirely. Therefore, as a military spouse, packing your suitcases before a move requires some planning and preparation, especially if you have kids. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! Read on to find out how our family has made a game of packing for the long and strange PCS journey. But first…
Why I flipped my approach to packing
As someone who has taken frequent trips with kids over the years, even prior to military life, my default packing method used to be to set out a suitcase several weeks prior to the trip and gradually set aside the items we’d need, so that the day or two before the trip, much of what we needed was already packed. If there were outfits I knew I’d want the kids to wear on the trip for whatever reason, I could pull them out of the regular clothing rotation and pack them so they’d be sure to be clean and not forgotten. This method works well for quick trips, but I discovered that when preparing for a PCS this approach leads to overwhelm, seeing as one of the most overwhelming tasks is sorting and keeping separate the items that will go in the quick ship, the regular HHG shipment, and the suitcases. If you try to pack up early, you’ll most likely need to pull out items you need to use in the meantime. Unless you can pack everything you need for your travels, zip it up, and not touch it again until you leave, all of those things are just going to end up getting mixed together again, and that’s exactly what you don’t want.
Once I realized my packing method wasn’t working for PCSes, I decided to reverse it. When it comes to clothing, instead of packing up what we are going to bring on our trip and using the remaining clothes during those waiting weeks, I now pack away in totes everything we are NOT going to bring in our luggage. What’s left in our drawers is what we’re going to bring and what we’ll use until then. This way, when moving day arrives, you know that all the clothes in the dryer or in your drawers are coming with you- there’s no need to sort or track down missing items! You can just scoop it all up and toss it into suitcases, knowing it will be exactly what you need, since everything you don’t need is packed away already.
Making it Fun
As I’ve considered ways to make our upcoming move a positive experience for our kids, it occurred to me that one of my daughters just loves to create events and experiences in our home, real or pretend. She revels in playing school, creating a restaurant, holding free raffles for her siblings, teaching an art class, or inviting us all to the elaborate birthday parties she throws for her stuffed animals. She uses it as a way to show love to people, and little experiences and gifts are a way that she feels loved, as well. As I was sorting kids’ clothing in preparation for our move and was about to ask her opinion on which items she wanted to bring in the luggage for our months-long journey to our new home, I decided that instead of just asking her, I could make selecting the items an experience for her to enjoy!
“Shopping” for “Vacation Clothes”
First, with all the laundry done, I removed any items from her wardrobe that I definitely didn’t want to bring along for whatever reason and packed them away. Then, I pulled any items I definitely did want her to bring and set them aside for the suitcase. What remained created a store that she could shop from! I laid out all the items, grouped by type, and wrote up a little coupon for each clothing type telling her how many of that item (such as 3 pairs of shorts or 2 dresses) she could “buy” to bring on her trip!
I jotted down a quick invitation on a piece of scrap paper telling her she was invited to shop at the store’s grand opening and delivered it to her mailbox (because she’s the type of kid who would have just made a cardboard mailbox that morning…). Of course, she was thrilled to come up and see the shopping experience I had made for her. I handed her a shopping bag, and she went to town! When she was done selecting her items, she insisted I scan them, and I played along, closing up her shopping bag with a hairbow and thanking her for shopping at my store. As soon as she was done, she just had to make a store for her little sisters, and she made plans to open a shoe store the next day!
It took only a shopping bag, some paper, and a few minutes on a task I was going to do anyway to make this girl feel special and begin her PCS journey with a fun memory. It also gave both of us a sense of control over the packing, allowing us to avoid debates over what to bring. Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of creativity to create a win-win scenario and sprinkle a bit of fun into a task!
What is your child’s love language? What ways might you speak it during your family’s next PCS or on an ordinary day?
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