Orders drop, and suddenly you have a report date, a house to empty, and a pile of decisions about what goes on the truck.
A good number of our customers are military. We’re a short drive from Indian Head, and close enough to Andrews, Bolling, Dahlgren, and Quantico that we see the same move every season. Some families are heading overseas with a weight allowance that won’t cover the whole house. Some are going unaccompanied and need everything parked somewhere for a year. Some just own more furniture than the next set of quarters will hold.
What the government moves, and what lands on you
Your transportation office handles the household goods shipment, and depending on your orders you may also have storage in transit while you hunt for housing. That covers a lot of the load.
What it covers less well is anything you want your hands on. Storage in transit runs on a clock and sits in a warehouse you don’t have a key to. Pulling one box back out means scheduling it with the carrier. Non-temporary storage, the option most people use for unaccompanied and overseas tours, works the same way. Your things are safe and they’re also gone until the tour ends. If you need the tool bag, the kid’s bike, or the file box with your paperwork before then, that’s a problem you created for yourself in June.
So plenty of families run both. The bulk of the house goes on the government shipment, and whatever they want access to goes in a unit they hold the key to.
Get your weight allowance before you decide anything
Every rank has a weight allowance, and anything over it comes out of your pocket. Your transportation office can tell you your number, and can tell you how professional gear is handled, since that gets treated differently. Ask early. That number changes the math on whether the sectional, the deep freezer, and eleven boxes of books are worth taking with you.
The usual suspects that push people over: exercise equipment, books, tool chests, garage shelving, and furniture nobody actually likes but everybody keeps moving.
What the movers won’t load
- Fuel and propane. Drain the mower, and the grill tank goes to a neighbor.
- Aerosols, paint, solvents, and pool chemicals.
- Ammunition. Rules vary, so ask your transportation office rather than guessing.
- Open liquids, cleaning supplies, and anything that can spoil.
- Plants.
Most of that list is off limits in a storage unit too. Nothing flammable, nothing with fuel in the tank, nothing alive. Drain the mower before it comes to us as well.
What’s usually worth keeping local instead of shipping
- Seasonal gear you won’t need at the next duty station. Snow equipment on the way to Florida, beach chairs on the way to Alaska.
- Furniture that won’t fit. Quarters and rentals are rarely the same size as the house you’re leaving.
- Garage and hobby equipment. Tools, bikes, camping gear, the project car parts.
- Anything going back into a house you plan to return to. Plenty of people keep a home in Charles County and rent it out between assignments.
- The overflow when you rent your place out furnished or unfurnished. Personal items come out, tenants move in.
Unaccompanied tours and deployments
When the family stays here and one person leaves, a unit is often how the spare room becomes a spare room again. It’s also how people handle the in-between: a lease ending mid-tour, a roommate situation changing, a house sale that closes before the next one does.
Access here is 24/7, which matters when the packers are coming at 7 a.m. or you’re loading after a duty day. Every unit is ground-level drive-up, so you back the truck to the door and load straight off the tailgate. No stairs, no elevator, no hallway.
Small things that save you a headache later
- Photograph everything before it’s boxed. If you end up filing a claim, photos do the arguing for you.
- Keep your orders and the inventory sheets with you. Not in the shipment, not in the unit.
- Ask legal about a power of attorney if your spouse will be signing for the move while you’re already gone.
- Hand-carry the important stuff. Passports, IDs, medical and dental records, shot records for the dog, school records, laptops, anything irreplaceable.
- Label boxes on the side, not the top. Once they’re stacked you can’t read the tops. More on that in our packing post.
Military discount
We offer a military discount, so mention it when you call and we’ll apply it. There are no move-in fees, and if you’ve got a verified price from another facility nearby, tell us and we’ll meet or beat it.
We’re also a U-Haul dealer. If you’re doing a personally procured move, you can rent the truck or the trailer right here and load straight from your unit, and the boxes, tape, and wrap are in the office. See our U-Haul rental options or our moving supplies.
What size people usually end up with
Seasonal gear and a stack of boxes fits a 5×10. A one-bedroom’s worth of furniture is generally a 10×10. A full house going into storage for a year lands closer to a 10×20, which is about a one-car garage. If you’re between two sizes, take the bigger one. Sizes and pricing are on our self storage page.
Call us at (301) 843-5220 with your report date and we’ll figure out what you need. We’re at 3325 Leonardtown Road in Waldorf, about a mile off Route 301.