We are PCSing from Ft Riley, KS to Ft Lewis, WA in April. I want to be with my husband to find our new home together this time. I'm pretty sure we should be able to get a ten day allowance for house hunting. But where do we tell the moving company to send all of our furniture and belongings if we don't have a new address yet? Will the Army pay to have them put it in storage for a few days? And if so, will they still deliver everything to our new house?

This is our first move together so I'm stressing out!

Thank you in advance.

They should store everything for up to 90 days and then move it into your house when you get it.

Kathy

We moved to Fort Riley this summer and had no address when we left GA to come here. You can just write down the post on your transportation papers. All we told them was Fort Riley. When the movers arrived with our stuff, they called and inquired about an address. If we didn't have one, they would have put our stuff in storage and then we would have had to call back when we had an address and schedule a time for delivery.

you do not need an address- they will take it to the new location and put it in storage for up to 90 days for free.
also a note about the TLE- this is 10 days total and if you use any at the old location you have only the balance at the new:

ie: you use 2 days at Ft Riley it will leave 8 days at Ft lewis.

also you cannot double dip TLE and per diem- so if you are given 5 days to get from FT riley to Ft lewis- and you do it in 3 and check into your TLE hotel you will lose 2 days of the TLE.

Thanks everyone, that's great news!

I'm pretty sure my husband said we have 30 days before his report date to Lewis to do whatever we need to do..? So wouldn't the ten days in a hotel start after we get to WA? Maybe I misunderstood him.

the 30 days are leave days and have nothing to do with TLE-

TLE is for the hotel stay at the new and old location this is a MAX of 10 days- if you use any TLE at the old location- you have only the balance left when you use it at the new location.

also on that note- you are only give per diem for ENROUTE travel to the new duty station - if you have 5 days to get to the new duty station- you will only get per diem for those 5 days NOT for the 30 days of leave.

On an different, but related, note...if you don't already have an address lined up, you may want to sign up for a PO Box at your new location before you move so that you have an address that you can forward mail to.

I know we won't get TLE for 30 days. I don't see why we would need to use the ten days before we left. We should be fine hanging out in an empty apartment for a day or so.

How do I set up a forwarding address for mail if we don't know it yet? I would prefer not to get a PO Box.

You can't set up a forwarding mail address for mail if you don't know it yet. Either you wait until you do know it (and risk having mail lost) or you get a PO Box.

you cannot forward mail with out an address- you can however put a hold on the mail that the PO will hold until you get an address and you can put in a change of address.

In addition to the mail thing you could call the post office on base and see if you can forward your mail there and have them hold it until you get a place, or any post office in the area. I don't know if that's something that every post office is willing to do but that's what we did this last PCS so we could still get our mail while house hunting.

USPS will allow you to put a hold on all mail delivered for up to a month. Within that time you should have a place to have it all forwarded too. That is what we have done without an issue everytime we have moved which has been a lot. This last time I did get a PO Box because it was worth it and quite reasonable.

The last time we moved, I put a hold on our mail until we could have it all forwarded to our new address about 15 days later...it was a NIGHTMARE! It took over 2 months to finally get the mail properly forwarded and receive everything that had been held. I am definitely getting us a PO Box next time...no question.

Okay thanks everyone!

When we moved I have everything forwarded to my parents house while we are finding a place and then forward again from their house to our new place. That way if there is something that needs immediate action they can let me know and I can deal with it. This last move was our first without already having housing lined up and I was super nervous about it but it all went smoothly. When our stuff arrived the movers called and we said we didn't have an address so they put it in storage and then when we got the house we called and had our stuff in under a week! I couldn't believe it.

Anyone know how many days (or weeks?) before moving out I should make appointments for us to view possible houses to rent?

That's your discretion. You get 10 days of house hunting, but the command does not have to give it. I suggest looking online and getting in touch with the property managers/owners to set up a time to look at houses you are interested in.

That's what I plan to do. I'm just wondering if anyone has suggestions for how long beforehand landlords/house owners like to make the appointments. Guess I'll find out.

I wouldn't try to set up any appointments too early I'd be afraid they might be cancelled and I'd have my heart set on a certain place. Rentals can go very quickly depending on the area and usually if you look at a place and like it the ball gets rolling pretty quickly. I think you'll be fine waiting till you get out there.