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Moving Your Electronics

September 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Moving your electronics and gadgets can become a special planning event. You might like your computer or your wi-fi to the last minute, whereas you might be able to leave without your PSP just fine. If you choose a government move then all you have to ‘worry’ about is prepping of the cords and electronics. It’s a different ball game if you move yourself, do a DITY move.

Either way it’s always….

…a good idea to carefully clean, wipe your electronics with a special electronics cleaner, just a small dust mop or canned air to take care of accumulated dust. Clean screens, keyboards. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Military LIfe, PPM (DITY), Preparation Tagged With: , , , ,

Travel Voucher, DITY Move Checklist

July 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

travel voucher, dity, forms, checklistFilling out forms is not fun, but if you want to get paid, this is what you have to do. To make it easier for you, I have listed important forms here.

Travel Voucher -print it out or fill it out online. Some JPPSO’s actually supply the form to you, but it varies.

Application for DITY Move and Counseling Checklist

Consider this:

  1. Make sure you have a fairly accurate estimate on your household goods weight. It’s iffy, because Finance is very strict and if you overestimated your weight, subsequently received too much money, this excess in funds will be simply taken away from your paycheck. SURPRISE!!

  2. Even if you move yourself DITY?PPM, your household goods are ‘insured’ up to $50,000. Well, sort of. Your goods are insured against acts of god. Storms, possibly accidents. I would not depend on this and consider buying separate insurance for the trip. If you break any items when you DITY – most likely you are out of luck if you try and recover any damage, since this liability rests with you.

  3. You are entitled for temporary storage up to 90 days.

  4. Remember your weight tickets! I recently read that you will HAVE to weigh empty first and THEN full.

  5. DD Form 2278 and weight tickets must be submitted to paying office/TMO/ITO to receive incentive payment. Provide Rental Contract (not required for Air Force and Army.)

  6. Furnish two weight tickets within 45 days from the start of this move. If you do not do so, you are consenting in this form  to collection of all government costs of this move from MYPAY. (also see #1)

  7. When it comes to weighing your vehicle – PLEASE- do NOT try and cheat in any way. It is not worth it! Do not think “No one is looking.”

  8. If your orders are modified or cancelled and affect this shipment, you will have to immediately notify the shipping office at point of origin (or port, if any) AND destination.

PCS and TDY En Route Travel Advance Request

  1. Complete this form within 20 days of your sign out date

  2. All authorized travel expenses are paid at 80%

  3. DITY authorized advances will be paid at 60%

  4. No advance DLA authorized for married soldiers with deferred travel for dependents or if they do not relocate within 60 days.

Claim for temporary lodging expenses


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Filed Under: entitlements, Military Money Matters, PPM (DITY) Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

I bet you didn’t know:”PCS Customer Service”

June 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

I bet yoDFAS get paid for your DITYu didn’t know that there is such a thing as PCS customer service. I was surprised. This term is a little bit misleading. This customer service refers only to PCS travel voucher payments and not to your general PCS procedure as there are many moving parts to this puzzle, think: JPPSO, TMO, Finance and so on. You might not need this info right NOW, but bookmark it or know where to find it.

Military PCS Customer Service

When completing a Military PCS move, service members will in-process with their local Defense Military Pay Office (DMPO) at their new permanent duty station.  The DMPO will then submit the PCS travel voucher to DFAS Rome for processing.

Please contact your servicing DMPO for submission information and for any additional questions you may have regarding your PCS voucher.  All PPM/DITY (when you are packing and moving yourself) claims must first be checked by the servicing Transportation Office for approval of weight allowance.  After approval by the Transportation Office, vouchers are to be submitted to DFAS Rome for processing. PPM/DITY Claim forms must be submitted through fax, or mail.  Fax numbers and the DFAS Rome mailing address are listed below. Usually your finance, JPPS Office will help you with questions as well.

PPM/DITY Submission Information
General Customer
Service Questions		 1-888-332-7366
DSN: 699-0300
Select Option 1
Email: DFAS-IN.Travel@dfas.mil
PPM/DITY Claims Fax: 317-275-0277
DSN: 510-366-0277
Mailing Address DFAS Rome
Attention: Travel
325 Brooks Road
Rome, NY 13441

via DFAS


Filed Under: Allowances, entitlements, Military Money Matters, PCS'ing, PPM (DITY), Resources Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How Can I supervise the packing?

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

supervise your packingWhen you are being packed, it would be nice to be able to simply depend on the knowledge, the skill and professionalism of packers. Unfortunately, you can’t and you shouldn’t. That’s  why it’s crucial to supervise the packing of your household goods.

Several issues:

  • How can I supervise all of the packers at once/by myself/ourselves? What should I watch out for?

The biggest step is to be prepared: Have you sorted your household goods by what shouldn’t be packed at all? (lock the door!). Did you separate and label your Pro Gear? Have you prepped and marked items for the “Open me first” boxes?

Have at least 2 people at your home during packing to supervise.If things don’t feel right, speak up, document (take pictures,video…). If you feel there is a greater issue call quality control of your local transportation office or JPPSO. You are well prepared for this situation if you already have all the numbers on hand – or on your smartphone.

Especially if you are close to your weight limit watch for over packing/stuffing. It seems to be a thin line, as you really want to make sure your household goods are packed safely, but you don’t want useless packaging that would increase your weight. (Do you have all your trashcans emptied?) If you are being overcharged know that you can appeal see how.

Make sure that the packers write adequate descriptions of the contents on the boxes themselves and later on the inventory.  While the packers do not have to list every item, they should write the general category of the items on the outside of the boxes.  The general category of each box (e.g., CD’s, toys, garage items, etc.) should also be written on the inventory.

Check that items that would not logically be packed in a certain box are specifically listed.  Examples: tools packed
in a box marked clothes (we’ve all had some of that?!) ; a lamp packed in a box marked garage items, electronics packed in a box of pillows.  If you later claim for an item that would not reasonably be expected to be found in a certain box, you may not be paid for it.
  • How can I check all the inventory they have listed on the ‘pink’ paper DD 1840 R ?

I am sure you have done all this:

  • Document the purchase date (month/year) and purchase price
  • Gather paid bills, credit card slips, canceled checks, etc
  • For electronics, document the serial number and working/mechanical condition
  • Take photographs and/or video recordings to document the condition of items
  • For antiques, obtain a pre-shipment appraisal (necessary to claim as antique
  • Date your inventory and label and date your photographs
  • Maintain all this documentation with you – not in your HHG shipment

THEN:

You can start by studying the codes and abbreviations so that you can determine much faster if a remark such as worn/scratched/cracked is really accurate. The reason this is very important is that any remarks (true or not) are being taken into consideration when you are filing any claims for damages and will potentially lower your reimbursement.

Watch the carrier employee who fills out the inventory to ensure he is describing the condition of your property correctly. If you disagree with his notations on preexisting damage, write your exceptions/disagreements at the bottom of each inventory sheet.
High-value items absolutely must be listed on the inventory. We were asked which high value item we would like listed on a separate ‘High-Value-Inventory’ sheet. (Maybe you don’t want them packed at all but handcarry them? Have you considered extra insurance?)
What not to pack in your HHG shipment: money, jewelry, items of very high importance to you (irreplaceable items).


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Filed Under: Military LIfe, PCS'ing, PPM (DITY), Shipping Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Get your moving process started via move.mil

May 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

start your move with move.milDid you know that you can start and complete your move on the new DPS website?  Yes, you’ve read right, via move.mil you can arrange your whole move. There are some exceptions for which you cannot use this system, ie. your very FIRST move and your ETS move.

You can start your DITY move -or any move for that matter- with the website move.mil. Now this might change from office to office. It would not hurt to contact your local Joint Personal Property Office (JPPSO) or your Transportation office to learn what their requirements are. To give you an example your JPPSO might tell you, you can start the process online, but you’ll have to call it in to your transportation counselor to confirm the input data on the website. Maybe they’ll require you to come in to a JPPSO PCS brief -  or that you can do it all by yourself.

I was very impressed when I saw the remake for the first time. There is a lot of information on the site. You might want to start with the video, which leads you through the sign up procedure. Not surprisingly, you’ll have to supply 6 (!) security questions with answers and hopefully you’ll remember them all as they will randomly be thrown at you when you are trying to log in again at a later time.  So far I have always had a note on the website informing me that the password will be sent to me within 72 hours. When I registered for my account tonight, I received my password within 10 minutes.

NOTE: This site works only with Explorer…I hate Explorer so, I’ll have to upload the browser JUST to be able to use this site. Not sure WHAT the webmasters where thinking.

I received a tip from a JPPSO officer in which he suggested to click ‘forgot password’ (regardless of the fact that you don’t have one – yet) and wait for your now  ‘new’ password.

There is actually a lot of information on this website, and while you could go through the “self counseling” and arrange everything yourself, it might be a good idea to sit through the brief and the instructor might have some additional tips and recommendations. Go to the briefing learn how to do this yourself, you never know what can come up and then you’ll have to manouver around this website.Mint.com - From the Makers of TurboTax

You’ll need these documents:

  • Active Duty Military Members PCS Orders -  make lots of copies! You will need them everywhere!
  • If your spouse is not around at all or just not always available  make sure you have a power of attorney. Nothing happens in the military without this document.
  • Form DD 2278 “Application for Do It Yourself Move and counseling checklist”- when we moved the last time, we went through this form step by step with a transportation counselor. All additional questions were answered there on the spot. Loved it!

    • Please Vote for me! Thru May 25th you can vote everyday, but if you just want to vote once that’s fine too :-)

    *Scroll to the Militarydutystations-blog logo

    *simply click on the thumbs up (no registration necessary)

    ==================================================================================


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Filed Under: Military LIfe, PPM (DITY) Tagged With: , , , , , ,

To DITY move or not to DITY move?

May 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
DITY move

This looks about right...

…it is the question!

Very poetic, but we have wrestled with this plenty of times.

In the end you probably only want to do a DITY move, if it pays financially. Read “A Tale of a DITY Move” for a real life dity story. Unfortunately, since April last year (2010), that has been harder to determine. Until April 2010 the movers had been paid quite handsomely until the their pay had been slashed – some by up to 60%.

Before I continue I would like to mention that you should not be surprised that someone might call the DITY move (which is so much easier to remember) Personally Procured Move also PPM. This change in title happened almost 3 years ago, still people have a hard time getting used to ‘PPM’.

The military shrouds itself in mystery as to HOW much you are actually getting if you move yourself. But to give you a quick overview in regards to your reimbursement consider these facts:

  1. You will receive 95% of the amount that the movers will receive. So called ‘incentive’ pay. To my knowledge it is virtually impossible to find out HOW much this might be just by searching the net. Your best bet is to call your TO/TMO/JPPSO (Transportation offices/Personal Property Offices)
  2. From this amount you will have to pay ALL your expenses like packaging, renting, maybe pay helpers. You will still receive your PCS allowances like DLA and per diem, as they are independent from any actual moving calculations.
  3. The incentive pay is taxed with 28% – You can possibly recoup expenses with the tax return of the following year, by submitting your receipts -which, I am sure, you have ALL kept.

After you have called JPPSO or your Transportation Office, you have hopefully now an idea how much the 95% incentive pay will be. I think the reason that you can not find this information on the web is because it depends on your rank hence your weight allowance and the distance you are moving. As an indicator: 11,000 lbs from Fort Lewis to Fort Carson, are reimbursed with $8,000 (2011). It sounds like a lot, but really run the numbers before you commit to one or the other.

It is important that you know what you are going to do before you walk in to the JPPSO/Finance/Transportation office, because they will ask how you want to move.

One more thing:

The military is moving to more and more automation. Ideally they want to move to as little personal contact as possible, which of course is also a money issue. This is simply a heads up so that you are prepared to simply be told to go online and read what’s on move.mil. This does vary from one military installation to the other.

Filed Under: Military Money Matters, PPM (DITY) Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The tale of a DITY move

April 9, 2011 By 2 Comments

DITY/PPM move it yourself

Hope emailed me the following DITY tale when I asked her about her experiences:

“Let me see what I can remember.. lol! One thing I can definitely say is don’t lose your rental agreement! Ugh.. We did.. Luckily the truck company we went through still had the copy 4 months later and was able to send it to us in an e-mail…..

We have moved a few times without the Navy and I have to say Uhaul is a joke.. The unleaded gas made us pay sooo much more then we should have because it ate up so fast.. Yes it was easier then trying to find Diesel but I rather save the money! Budget and Penske will usually try to fight for your business but we have always found Penske to be the absolute best price and the trucks are pretty nice as well.

We used Penske for our DITY move after getting quotes online and then calling them to see what they could do for us.. in the end we got a discount of about 1,200 on the truck from what it quoted me online.. They will also hold the price they give you so it won’t go up higher.. It is especially helpful since you can cancel for free or change your dates and keep the price. (That is what they told us anyhow.. we didn’t have to change since we literally booked 4 days before pickup!!)

We moved from Victorville, CA to Goose Creek, SC and it took us 5 days with a 18 month old.. We pre-booked our hotels on our route there to make sure we stayed on schedule and we called ahead telling them we had a 22 foot truck to make sure they had the parking available for us.. It was not the easiest task but we found hotels that were around 60-70 a night the whole way there that gave us a free breakfast and had the parking space.. it really made our life easier since we got to each hotel between 10pm -2am depending on how our little monster behaved..

I believe my husband said we would have like 2,000 lbs or something like that and he got like…. $1,800 or something (I cant remember exactly) up front.. I think he said it was 60% of what they were going to give us.. We ended up having 4,040 lbs.. So we ended up getting about $3,000 mailed to us for the rest of what was owed to us.. Thankfully, I was very sparing with his money from bootcamp so we were able to use that for the trip there. Else-wise, I don’t know how we would have made it! We also got money for myself and my son moving but that was when we got here in May when we went to the PSD and updated his page 2.. that was deposited instantly.. We were told that there are new rules in effect with the Navy at least and you can only do a DITY move once in your career.. But honestly after all of that.. I don’t want to do it again!! Especially since my little one will be 3 when daddy finishes school and its time to move again.. ugh! Uhm.. If there are any specific questions you can think of let me know.. I am trying to remember all the while my son is pulling on my leg.. He is two now and ever so needy lol!

Thank you, Hope. What an adventure. Not sure about the once a lifetime DITY move…but I’ll find out.

Filed Under: Guest Bloggers on MDS, Guest Blogging, PPM (DITY) Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Where Is the Toilet Paper?

January 30, 2011 By 3 Comments

PCS packing boxesI can see it very clearly: You have arrived at your new home and finally, you have your own bathroom…It’s all great, until you realize there is no toilet paper and the previous occupants  didn’t leave you any. Good luck, trying to find the packed toilet paper if you haven’t marked it clearly on the box.

To avoid this and similar awkward moments  pack an “open-me-first-box” for each room. The boxes that you pack will be clearly labeled and should have all the essentials for those first few days until you have unpacked the majority of your household goods. Don’t be tempted and pack more than two ‘open-me-first’ boxes per room! If you are packing yourself, you’ll know that the very last thing you’ll load are the “open-me-first-boxes” and maybe your “Screws and Tools” box.

If you are being packed by professionals make sure that you communicate to them that certain piles in your rooms need to be in a specially marked box. Personally, I  recommend those important items be gathered in a laundry basket. Clearly mark for the contents of this basket to be placed in priority box. Just to be on the safe side, tell the packers too! Once those packers get on a roll, everything that is not nailed down gets packed up and sometimes you won’t even know about it until it’s loaded and gone.

Supervise for these priority boxes to be loaded last and unloaded first. While you are at it, ask the movers where all the screws from the disassembled furniture is, just so that you know. It also tells the movers that you are paying attention.

What would you have in such priority or “open-me-first” boxes? Here are some suggestions:

Kitchen items:

  1. Aluminum foil or plastic wrap
  2. Break-proof or disposable flatware, cups, and plates
  3. Coffee maker and coffee (don’t forget the filters!)
  4. Dish detergent
  5. Frying pan and spatula
  6. Pet food and bowls
  7. Scissors
  8. Tea kettle

Bathroom items:

  1. Bath mat
  2. Bath towels
  3. First-aid kit (aspirin, band-aids, hydrogen peroxide)
  4. Shampoo
  5. Shower curtain and rings
  6. Soap
  7. Toilet paper
  8. Toothbrushes and toothpaste

Baby Room:

  1. Clothes
  2. Diapers and wipes
  3. Portable crib
  4. Favorite Toys
  5. Baby food

Special Tools:

  1. Duct tape
  2. Flashlight
  3. Flat-head screwdriver
  4. Hammer
  5. Level
  6. Phillips-head screwdriver
  7. Tape measure
  8. Utility knife

Good luck in your new home!  Check out our other great PCSing tips!

Filed Under: Military LIfe, PCS'ing, PPM (DITY), Shipping Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

A DITY move – the new workout!

November 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

move yourself, lose weightAccording to www.caloriesperhour.com, a 140-pound person burns per hour:

  • 222 calories packing and unpacking boxes;
  • 381 calories moving furniture;
  • 191 calories moving household items; and
  • 572 calories moving boxes/furniture up stairs.

How ’bout that? – Gives moving a new perspective.

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Filed Under: Military Family, Military LIfe, PPM (DITY) Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Transportation Office or JPPSO

November 11, 2010 By 1 Comment

(transfered from militarydutystations.com June/2010) We PCS’d from Ft.Lewis to Ft.Carson. While Ft.Lewis was very accommodating, there has almost been a paranoia on Ft.Carson, towards me and my blog. This means that your experience with JPPSO will vary from transportation office to transportation office (JPPSO respectively).

Not every installation has a JPPSO, but I believe every installation,base, post has a small transportation office to answer your questions

Acronyms, Acronyms – sooner or later I will have to post a list of all the acronyms. The military has acronyms for anything and even seasoned military spouses have to look them up every once in a while.

Moving on…since I needed to do some research about PCSing and about moving to a new duty station, I figured attending a PCS brief would be a good idea. Since it looks as if our family will be relocating this year anyway this would be interesting also on a personal level.

I went to Fort Lewis JPPSO yesterday. JPPSO stands for: Joint Personal Property Shipping Office. Not sure what I was to expect. The JPPSO has always been a bit of a mystery to me and something that my husband dealt with. This office here in Fort Lewis is responsible for pretty much all of Washington and northern Portland AND for all branches. I know of 5 JPPSO’s in the US:

Last week I had visited the JPPSO actually for the first time. When I entered I immediately saw the JPPSO service desk and asked the service member behind it about available briefings. I learned that there is a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) briefing and a PPM (Personal Procurement Move formerly DITY) briefing. The service member at the desk was very accommodating and helpful. I signed up for the two briefs. They would be taking place 1/20.

Fast forward now to yesterday: I went to the briefing room, sat down and took one of the form packages that were on the table for me. We do not have orders yet, only God knows when we will get those.

  • if you have your orders BRING THEM
  • if YOU, as a spouse, are arranging the move you’ll need a specific or general power of attorney, available for free at the JAG office. Usually, no appointment at JAG necessary for that but the JAG offices have training times so call before you go, if you live further away.

Since I believe that I am not the only one suffering from “Internet ADD” I split up this blog entry in 2 parts – please come back tomorrow for part II

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Filed Under: Military LIfe, PCS'ing, Planning, PPM (DITY) Tagged With: , , , , ,
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