Costs Of A PCS Part 1
One of the big myths surrounding military life is that the military pays for everything when it comes to moving (there are other myths along the same lines regarding pay, but that’s not what I want to tackle right now). There are a lot of hidden costs to a PCS that families may not know about or be prepared for. I certainly hadn’t thought about them before this move.
I didn’t notice these things with our first PCS because we had only been married for two months. Our accounts had barely been merged, and everything in Florida was in my husband’s name. I had also never lived “on my own” before because I hadn’t been anywhere besides college or a family member’s house. I didn’t have a reference point for rent, groceries, utilities, or anything else to notice the difference when we moved to Oklahoma.
So, let’s talk about the things that come up so that military families can be better prepared before their PCS and so that we can lobby for more support. If the military forces us to uproot our lives, they should help cover all the costs, especially as it becomes increasingly difficult to live on a single income, a problem many families face due to the constant moving.
1. Selling a house
Moving to a new duty station means letting go of the last housing. Even if we are just in a rental or military house, there are still costs associated with repairing the place prior to leaving (I know those military housing blinds have to be replaced constantly), and completing a move- out level clean can often require new supplies or hiring someone else to do it. We were lucky that we had owned our house long enough to pay closing costs and still make a profit. We have friends who aren’t in that position, though. The closing costs alone will have to come out of pocket because there isn’t enough equity in the house. It was a new construction, so we only had to make minimal repairs before leaving, but that did total about $800 ($300 of that was seller’s concessions, so we never physically saw that money leave our account).
2. Buying a house
We decided to buy again at our current duty station since we had such a great experience with the last house. The rental market is also incredibly overinflated here, and we would have spent more every month to rent rather than own. We bought a new construction house with a significant credit from the lender, bringing our interest rate down to something much more manageable. We paid a total of $7,500 in closing costs and $700 for two inspections (one inspection was for the house we initially planned to buy and then pulled out of because there were so many issues. This can be avoided by living in military housing, but that can have really long waitlists and isn’t the right choice for every family. It’s definitely not the right choice for me purely because we have so many people visiting that I don’t want the hassle of dealing with the gate. If you’re moving into a rental, you need to factor in security deposits, if the place requires the first and last months’ rent, and any overlap in renting. We managed to maintain one mortgage at a time by buying our house in December, which meant the first payment would not be until February, and selling our home in December, so our last payment was that month.
3. Restocking pantry
Most people toss their pantry and fridge prior to leaving a station. It’s usually easier to give away stuff to neighbors than deal with coolers or give up precious room in the cars. But those first few grocery shops are brutal as we restock on the necessities on top of our usual shops. I’ve done two grocery shops in Georgia. The first one cost $250, and I still didn’t get everything I needed. This second one came in right under $200. Compare that to our average grocery shop of around $100 a week, and that’s a significant change. I’m sure the bill will come back down as we build up our stock, but that’s a shift to be prepared for.
4. Restocking cleaning supplies
It really depends on the moving company whether or not they will take things like cleaning supplies. I don’t think they are technically allowed to, but some certainly do. Most people treat these the same as the pantry and give them away. We moved a lot of our cleaning supplies, but we also gave a lot away. Luckily, we had a pretty significant stash, so we whittled it down to the essentials, which got us through the move-out and move-in cleans without taking up too much space in our cars.
5. Days in a hotel
Generally, the hotels are covered during travel days and house hunting (assuming this is done after arriving at the new base). Still, that cost is usually paid after the fact, which means we are responsible for the upfront costs. It doesn’t matter how much the military will reimburse us if we can’t cover the room to begin with. This also does’t take into account any additional days that we have to stay in hotels. We sold our house three weeks before leaving for the new base. We were on vacation for one of those weeks and stayed with a friend for the other two, but if she hadn’t offered us a room, we would have been in a hotel, which would have been entirely on us to pay for.
6. Eating out
This is covered by per diem or percentages of it for dependents during the allotted travel days. That doesn’t take into account the days leading up to travel or the ones at the new house prior to household goods arriving. Packing and unpacking are long days that don’t always end with a home-cooked meal on the table. Our meals were eaten out two to three times a day for a solid three weeks. That can add up really quickly, and I do not want to look at that total.
7. Replacing broken items
This is another one of those things that we will get reimbursed for, but it can take quite a bit of time. Something almost always gets broken during a move, and while we may be able to hold off on purchasing a new Keurig until the money comes, we usually can’t wait on things like a refrigerator or mattress. The bigger the item, the more often we need it immediately replaced, and those costs come out of pocket upfront. It also doesn’t account for when the reimbursement doesn’t come. We had a 6-foot ladder that never got tagged on the inventory lost. I’m guessing it stayed on the first mover’s truck, but without any evidence on the inventory, getting paid back for that will be a big fight. While it is a relatively expensive ladder, we’ve decided to save the headache and not fight for it, especially since our new house has shorter ceilings and doesn’t need something that big.
While making this list, I quickly realized that it was more than could fit in one post. Part two is coming on Wednesday, and there may even be a part three. This matters for so many reasons, but it especially matters for our dreams. When budgets are tight, and debts are rising, our dreams get squeezed out. Military families may be able to better prepare for these costs if they know about them, but more importantly, we need to put a face to the name. This list has the power to create change because we can see how families are being harmed. If the military wants to maintain an all-volunteer fighting force, then it starts with protecting the health, including the financial health, of its members.