The Waiting Warriors

The Waiting Warriors As an Army wife of 11+ years Michelle is the founder of The Waiting Warriors podcast, blog, and socia

07/28/2026

Making a house feel like HOME when you know you’ll eventually have to pack it all up again is one of the trickiest parts of military life.

Some installations have stricter housing rules than others, and when you’re living in military housing (or any rental), it can feel like your options are pretty limited. Plus, is it even worth it if you’re going to move in a few years?

That’s why I was so excited to try this renter-friendly DIY wall treatment I saw Sharee Morris do.

I mixed joint compound with water until it was about the consistency of pancake batter, rolled it onto the wall, and used a stencil to create the pattern. The key for the renters was not adding paint to the mixture. My hope was that when it came time to PCS, it would simply wipe away with water.

Three years later…we finally found out. 😅

A wet rag, a little scrubbing, and the wall was back to normal. 🙌

I’d absolutely do this again.

Now I’m curious…

What’s been the hardest part about making military housing feel like home?

Have you ever found a renter-friendly DIY that actually held up and came off clean during move-out? Or maybe an account we should all follow for military/renter friendly ideas?

Let’s help each other out because every duty station seems to have different rules, and we’re all just trying to make these temporary houses feel a little more like ours. 💙

07/13/2026

PCS and HHG pack-out can feel overwhelming, but these are a few things we’ve learned after multiple military moves.

HHG Tips:

1️⃣ Tuck dryer sheets into boxes, drawers, and linens. It won’t stop humidity, but it can help everything smell a little fresher when your household goods finally arrive.

2️⃣ Use a moving label system. We use the Box-Ops labels whether we’re doing a PPM (Personally Procured Move) or an HHG move. It makes unpacking so much faster and more organized.
Comment “labels” and I’ll send you the link.

3️⃣ Pre-pack small items in Ziploc bags. I don’t bag every single thing, but medicines, makeup, batteries, charging cords, hardware, and junk drawer items are so much easier to unpack this way.

4️⃣ Completely pack for your road trip or flight BEFORE the movers finish. If everything doesn’t fit in your luggage or vehicle, you’ll still have time to adjust. I’ve known too many military families who had to throw things away because they realized too late there wasn’t enough room.

5️⃣ Know your rights during an HHG move. If something isn’t being packed correctly, movers are behaving inappropriately, or you’re concerned about the quality of the pack-out, document everything and contact your JPPSO. You can request a different moving company or even cancel the move and switch to a PPM if necessary. Hopefully you never need to—but it’s important to know you have options. and her FB group (PCS Like A Pro- Your Smooth Move) have taught me So So much about this!

6️⃣ Have a few “PCS sanity saver” items for the kids. We’ve found a handful of things that make long travel days and moving much easier.
Comment “list” and I’ll send you everything that’s worked for our family.

What’s one HHG or PCS tip you’d give someone moving for the first time? Let’s help the next military family out.

MilitaryMoving ArmyLife MilitarySpouse PCSSeason PCSTips MilitaryFamily

07/12/2026

Every PCS, deployment, TDY, change of plans, and unexpected curveball somehow turns us into professionals at “rolling with the punches”
🙃

Aaaannndddd it’s exhausting

But we always keep showing up.
Keep trying.
Keep failing.
Keep learning along the way 🫠

If you’re a military spouse, tell me this scene isn’t painfully hilarious and accurate?

Is there another movie scene you laugh at?

07/11/2026

The hardest part of packing our UAB wasn’t deciding what we wanted to bring with us to Korea, it was accepting that we couldn’t bring everything. 🫤

For an OCONUS PCS, a UAB isn’t meant to replace your house. It’s meant to bridge the gap until your household goods arrive.

But my brain fought that for a few weeks. I didn’t want to be without our stuff for that long.

But once I accepted it,that changed how I thought about packing.

Instead of asking, “What do we use all the time?” I started asking, “What will make those first couple of months feel more normal for our military family?”

That led us to prioritize things like cooking at home, keeping familiar routines for the kids, and bringing a few comfort items that would make a new place feel a little more like home.

I’m really curious how other families approached it.
👇 If you’ve done an OCONUS PCS, what was the BEST thing you packed in your UAB? Or what do you wish you’d packed?

I’d love for this comment section to become a resource for the next family getting ready for an overseas move.

And if you’re planning your first OCONUS PCS, comment UAB and I’ll send you the full YouTube video where I walk through everything we packed and why.

Again, I doubt my list will be your perfect list, but I personally always thought it was helpful to see what others are doing.

07/06/2026

We are brand spanking new to Camp Humphreys so I wasn’t sure what to expect for the 4th, but man does the know how to throw a party!

Like massive, fun, well organized, things for everyone party!

If you’re getting ready for a PCS to Korea or another overseas duty station, I hope sharing these little moments helps you know what to expect.

Have you ever celebrated the Fourth of July overseas? Did it feel different to you?

05/29/2026

Apparently talking about things that are unique to military spouse life means I’m making it my WHOLE personality?

Few can, or get the privilege, to handle all.of.this 🙃

I’m just here sharing pieces of my life so I can connect with other military spouses and help the community out

and (hopefully) we all know there’s so much more to us than a few clips online.

If you get it, you get it. If not, then remember that you are actually allowed to see things on the internet and keep scrolling… just saying

05/27/2026

For the newer military spouses let me breakdown the 5 categories we’ve separated our stuff into as we prep for our military move to Korea

1. What’s going on the plane with us. I reached out to our airline and they said we get 5 pieces of luggage per person so we will be using suitcases and a few totes so we can have some basics in the hotel and while we wait for our stuff. Thank you for doing that for military families!

2. UAB aka unaccompanied baggage is a smaller weight allowance but lets you send some stuff “ahead” that will (hopefully) get there sooner. Our UAB is est. to arrive July 4th, while the HHG isn’t until Aug 31st, so we packed things that would help us feel settled.

3. HHG - aka most of our stuff. Going to Korea we are only allowed half our typical weight allowance though

4. NTS (Non Temporary Storage) which is the military’s silly way of saying long term storage. Since we can only take half our weight allowance to Korea, the military is paying for the rest to go in storage. The question is what will last well in storage 🤷🏻‍♀️

5. Sell and donate. I no joke have more cash on me and in my Venmo then I’ve ever had 😅

Would it be helpful if I go into more details about what’s going on the plane vs UAB?

Happy PCS season friends!

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