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Many people who have not moved recently are unfamiliar with the idea of, “self service movers.” It’s pretty easy to understand. Working with self service movers is a relationship with a company that provides portable storage units and a delivery service. You, the person moving, pack, load, unload and unpacks all your own property. Unlike the kind of move a person makes by themselves (a DITY move), in which they rent a truck and do the packing, loading, driving, parking, unloading, unpacking and return the truck, self service movers (aka discount mover), handle all the transportation. They also deliver and retrieve the portable storage containers.

This is different from using a household moving company or one of the interstate moving companies. First, you contract with one of the self service movers for delivery of the portable storage. This is a secure, weather proof box, usually steel, that is dropped off at your driveway, parking lot or curb. You are given the only key. You then acquire packing supplies like boxes, tape, bubble wrap and so on and pack up all of your stuff. As you go along, you load up the portable storage container. You can do this at your own pace to make life simpler. You will already have made arrangements with the self service mover to be ready on a certain day and on that day they will come out and pick up the container. They’ll deliver it to you new home, apartment or dorm. From there, you unload and unpack your goods and the discount movers will come back and remove the container.

It’s quite simple and easy! The two biggest benefits of working with self service movers is that they reduce the stress of a move and it costs less than full service moving services.

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Every move is unique. You might be a single person relocating to a better apartment, a student moving out of a dorm room or a big family moving year’s worth of collected stuff. So it makes sense that if moves are different the moving checklist will be unique as well. Therefore, it is smart to consider creating your own personal moving checklist based on your specific situation.

How to start? First you have to decide on the type of move you’ll make. If you’re leaving the state you’ll need a cross country moving company, aka interstate moving company. If you’re staying local you might hire an ordinary household moving company. You might use portable storage units in a storage and moving scenario. Or you might do an entire DITY move. A military move is a special case.

Next collect several existing moving checklists from the web. Look for the most detailed lists that include also a schedule. What makes a move unique is the time frame each person has until moving day. If you have six months or more, the moving checklist you’ll use will be very different from someone who has only six weeks.

Check out the web sites of the best interstate moving companies. They’ll also offer advice on assembling your packing materials and tips on doing it. Gathering materials and making a strategy for boxing and storing them until moving day is a key part of planning.

Another aspect of a good custom moving checklist is a plan for the cleaning and that goes with a move. If you are leaving an apartment you’ll have to pay careful attention to tidying and repairing so you’ll get your security deposit back.

Once you have assembled your base model moving checklist, create your own unique version keeping what you need and discarding what you don’t. A good customized moving checklist will make your relocation much simpler and less stressful.

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If you’re a member of the military move is inevitable. You’d better learn to get good at it. You should anticipate moving, aka a Permanent Change of Station (PCS), about every two years. Similar to civilian life, the military move differs depending on your situation. It is a much bigger, more challenging task if you have a family, children still in school and a healthy buildup of property from over the years. If you’re a young person without a lot of stuff military moving is not so difficult.

However, a big difference from civilian life is that the military pays for your move. It will also offer some options that might give you a little extra money. The most common choice for a military move is a full service move. With this, an approved household moving company (or a cross country moving company) will come in, pack all your goods, load them up, transport them and unload into your new home. This is the easiest and least stressful of your options.

However, since a military move permits a DITY move you might consider its advantages. Foremost is that Uncle Sam will pay you what it would have cost them to use a household moving company. If you can plan and manage a DITY military move that costs less, then you can keep the difference. Many families see a DITY military moving as an opportunity to earn “bonus pay.”

One of the best ways for DITY military moving is to use a discount moving company, sometimes called self service movers. This method relies on portable storage. You do the packing and the discount movers transport your stuff in portable storage containers. The storage and moving system saves money and reduces the stress of military moving.

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