The PCS Files: Things are getting scheduled!

We still aren't exactly sure how to get EVERYTHING taken care of, but we did manage to go ahead and schedule our move-out date! Crazy, right?? The Hubs had to log-on to a DoD website that takes care of all the moving-stuff. We found out that we will be able to ship UP TO 14,500 lbs (woohoo!) and we completed a weight-estimator tool that helps you figure out exactly how much your household goods weigh. We had to click on all the types of furniture we have and how many of each piece we have and the calculator spits out a number  for you. Our rough estimate was about 7000lbs for our entire house! That's great! We could probably ship every single thing if we wanted, but we're probably selling most everything. (More on that later....)

Since The Hubs has to finish his rotations here through June, we scheduled our move-out date for early July. Our shipment to Japan can be divided into 3 parts: household goods (HHG), express, and non-temp storage. The HHG shipment could take 55 days (or longer) to get from our current house, alllllll the way across the ocean to our new house. If we don't yet have housing when it gets over there, the Navy will hold it for us until we're ready to move in somewhere. The express shipment is less than 1,000 lbs and is supposed to contain things we'll need as soon as we get there and get into a place (especially if our HHG are still traveling across the ocean). It's supposed to contain things like toys for the kids, linens, kitchen stuff, bathroom toiletries,  clothes, etc. Then, anything we're NOT taking to Japan can be put into long-term storage at the military's expense. 

So, we've got the ball rolling on the moving-bandwagon. We still need to apply for our no-fee passports (compliments of the US government) and we're not quite sure how to go about doing that. We also need to register and take some class about moving overseas and we have to get our medical/dental screening process started. 

Still a lot of things to do, obviously... but it's becoming so much more real!