A military move involves a lot of details. And when you plan to do a full or partial DITY move, your to do list becomes even longer. One of the tools you always hear people talking about when you discuss handling a military move yourself is the DITY move calculator. A DITY move calculator will help you figure out the estimated cost of your move so you can determine whether it makes financial sense for you to handle it all yourself.
As soon as you have your official orders, make an appointment with your transportation or personal property office on base for an initial counseling session. At that session, you and your counselor will discuss the requirements and guidelines (maximum allowable weight limit, list of authorized household goods, etc) of your move, as well as your options for moving. Keep in mind, that for some assignments a DITY move is not recommended or allowed. And no matter how attractive the estimates from your DITY move calculator are, you will not be reimbursed for an unauthorized DITY move.
Once you know your options and requirements, you can work through what options make most sense for your family and your particular move. Do some budgeting, game planning and estimates with the help of your DITY move calculator. You can either do a search for an online DITY move calculator or use the one given to you during your counseling session. Either way, the tool will help you figure out the expenses and costs of your move, as well as your potential profit. Then it's up to you to decide if that potential profit is worth the extra planning, organization and work your family must do to pull off a DITY move.