Full DITY move??

jamie.renee

Has anyone done one?  We are at a point where we may have to do it.  We won't be driving our stuff.  We had a mover come out and give us a quote, which wasn't too bad IMO.  What was your experience?  How do you find out how much they will pay you to move?

SoftSpot

We did one and made a couple thousand dollars so it was worth it to us. (We didn't have kids at the time.) We moved ourselves and did it in 2 days instead of 3 so we'd only have 1 night to stay at a hotel. We also packed a cooler with snacks and sandwiches so we only ate out once per day.

When your H (or whoever is the SM) goes to fill out the paperwork for a DITY there is an estimate page that kind of lined things out.

When my H turned in the paperwork I made sure it was set up exactly like the instructions said to so they would have an easier time with all the receipts. Also, for the stuff it said we weren't authorized payback on (like the hotel) the nice guy at the travel office told us to submit it separately to IPAC and they might cover it. Well, they did and we got an extra couple hundred bucks.

My advice is your going to do a DITY it to get organized before you get started and stay organized. Good luck!

snb15

We've done a full DITY move and a partial one.  We definitely made more money (couple thousand) on the full move, but it was a lot of work.  You just have to remember that while you might have people to help you when you leave, there might not be as many people there to help you unload/unpack.  

Also, when we did our partial move, we still made a good chunk of money.  We took all the "little things" and had the movers take all the furniture and some other heavy things from the garage.

  

jamie.renee

Thanks ladies.  I am not worried about unloading.  We ETSing and going back to our hometown.  I know my sister and her BF will help, as will a few other friends we have there.  We actually have more help there than here.  We are packing ourselves and having movers move it for us so I know we may not make as much as some people but for us it is more about time than money.

RunningMom08

As of this year they have changed the rules on full DITYs. They do not pay you what they used to. We have friends who did a full DITY from Benning to Hood and didn't make a dime. (they just did this in May) They actually lost out on $200. With all the cutbacks throughout the military one of the things they are cutting back on is paying out thousands of dollars to people who decide to move themselves. We like to do partial DITY's and it's not too bad. We just pack a few valuables that we don't want stolen or broken and put them in our cars. If you have any questions you can PM me. We are doing our 3rd move in 2 years. 

jamie.renee

Thanks.  We aren't looking to profit off of it, we are just trying to not spend his entire terminal leave here waiting on movers.  If we can be out of pocket only $200 or so that would be good.  I think we will end up spending more than that out of pocket though.  We got the quote for movers now he has to take it in (forgot to who).  At a briefing they are telling people to get quotes and bring it in to do a DITY.  Hopefully we know more very soon so we can get out of here!

Lissa832

We have always done a full DITY move.  Last year, we PCS'd from NC to VA.  We made approx. $3500 off doing it ourselves.  You will be given a certain amount prior to your move, and then you will be given the remaining AFTER you submit the paperwork.

MilMom2B

Except for our OCONUS move we have always (and will always) go DITY. It is much less stressful for us. We know where and how stuff is packed, nothing ends up broken or missing. There's less paperwork involved. We've never lost money on it (don't know about the recent changes) but even if we ended up paying a hundred or two it's worth it to us. I hate waiting around for movers and watching as they pack things horribly and then waiting on the other end for all my stuff just to find some of it damaged and missing. I do hate moving heavy items up and down the stairs and stuff, but that's what friends and family are for!

MilitaryIssued

I have done a full DITY and also a military (DMO) move...Both times, we had bad stuff happen!

For our DITY, the paperwork was not processed in time for DH's leave (The admin dept. had ample time to get it done..) so we had a hell of a time verifying our paperwork at the new installation...we made about $700 off the move, but it was nice to know that our things were in OUR hands.

And then with our DMO move, we had the worst, laziest workers ever...and they were just knocking our stuff around and taking forever...They took about 20 smoke/lunch breaks...They were rude to me and my DH, and they often talked about some pretty raunchy stuff in front of me...I was not happy at all! And having stangers come in and pack everything was a bit uncomfortable...I will always do a DITY from now on!

It just seems like things can never go smoothly with DH and I! But from what I have heard from all of my fellow Marine wives, DITY is the way to go! Check out www.ditymovers.com. It has a lot of useful information. Good luck!!

gigismomma

demersebm:

As of this year they have changed the rules on full DITYs. They do not pay you what they used to. We have friends who did a full DITY from Benning to Hood and didn't make a dime. (they just did this in May) They actually lost out on $200. With all the cutbacks throughout the military one of the things they are cutting back on is paying out thousands of dollars to people who decide to move themselves. We like to do partial DITY's and it's not too bad. We just pack a few valuables that we don't want stolen or broken and put them in our cars. If you have any questions you can PM me. We are doing our 3rd move in 2 years. 

This.

Pooka8

We have done 2 DITY moves.  We did both entirely ourselves (rented the truck, loaded, unloaded... everything). 

The first was just under a 1,000 mile move.  We ended up making about $1,000 after the truck rental and all.

The second was just moving from our rental home in town to base housing (about 15 miles one way).  That was in April while I was 6 months pregnant and we only had DH and his friend for all the heavy lifting. In the long run it was worth it because we made over 2,500 dollars after the truck rental.

If you're doing a local move I recommend having friends to help (we didn't and it made life miserable).  If you are moving for a PCS you'll have to decide what is more important to you... Money or convenience.

 

Both times TMO insisted on doing a walk through of our home to verify weight so it took 2 months to see the money.

Bluescarf

snb15:

We've done a full DITY move and a partial one.  We definitely made more money (couple thousand) on the full move, but it was a lot of work.  You just have to remember that while you might have people to help you when you leave, there might not be as many people there to help you unload/unpack.  

Also, when we did our partial move, we still made a good chunk of money.  We took all the "little things" and had the movers take all the furniture and some other heavy things from the garage.

  

We did a full DITY move before we had a child. It was easy with all the help to pack up and go, but getting to CO in the middle of a heat wave and unpacking by ourselves was no fun. In the end it was worth it to get over two thousand dollars though.