When my husband brought home his orders for an OCONUS move, we were equally excited and nervous. One thing we were not prepared for was two and a half months in a hotel without any of our household items. The military did pay for the hotel, but we had to pay out of pocket to compensate for everything else such as our meals out, our rental car, and other basic household goods. Most of these household goods were items that we purchased previously, but our shipment took between two and three months to arrive.

My advice for future moves is to set a daily budget and have that money saved ahead of time – especially for time you’ll be staying at a hotel. Your extended stay in a hotel might not include a kitchenette, so it is important to plan your meals (whether it be eating at a restaurant or preparing meals that don’t need to be cooked).

Other things that we found it important to budget for were contracts (such as a new phone plan, internet plan, etc.) and to have money saved to replace items that are damaged during the move. Inevitably, something will be broken and it will be an item that cannot get replaced by the movers. We had to purchase a new couch – thankfully our dogs and baby approve of the new one!