BookMark These Tips for Your Next PCS

One of the greatest gifts to enjoy as family is a home full of books. As a military homeschool family, each time we approach a move, I realize the volume (and weight) of the amount of books we have. We can truly never resist a library sale, thrifted books, or a free little library in our path. I had the pleasure to meet Lauren Weldon May, a military spouse, certified Professional Organizer, and owner of the Manifesto Home + Office, during our time stationed in Italy together. Lauren’s ability to bring peace to a home is a quality I not only admire but believe can change the way families approach the stress associated to a permeant change of duty station! When I had my list of organization questions, I knew I had to reach out to Lauren for support. Enjoy this bookish conversation between two military spouses who both moved their book collection around the world.

I’m a professional organizer, but I am also a big book person, both for reading & decor. My husband jokes if there is a flat surface in our house, I will put a stack of coffee table books on it.  I am almost always going to say there is no such thing as too many books! That being said, we as military families have to consider PCS weight limits and the constantly changing parameters of square footage in our rotating homes. Out of those necessities, we DO need to at least have some limitations. First, keeping kid books and adult books separate helps you keep two separate editing parameters in place. Those are two entirely different sets of books in my mind and one category growing should not force the other to shrink to accommodate. The key to book management is to let your bookcase be the editing trigger. Pick bookcases that reasonably fit the number of books you would like to have in your space and reasonably fit the spaces you typically live in. Once the bookcase is filled, implement a one-in, one-out rule from then on! Get three books that take up 6” of bookcase space? Time to purge a few from an old series to make up that room! Purchase a ton of thin early reader books? You might just need to let go of one giant board book your kids have outgrown to fit the new. For books that are no longer actively read but are sentimental, get a reasonably sized acid-free box to store childhood favorites to pass down someday and keep them separate from your everyday bookshelves. And again, I am always going to make accommodations for sneaking in a little stack of pretty books to warm up a corner of the kitchen or give company something to read when  jet-lagged in our guest room. Books are incredibly underrated decor in my opinion.

This is not something I am a huge fan of for military families because of our changing storage space capacities with each house. My one exception to this is seasonal and holiday books. I do not like to keep these year-round on regular bookcases. Instead, I store them with holiday decor in bins! It’s just too easy to let St. Patrick’s Day come and go, forgetting you had two or three lucky clover leprechaun books hiding on the bookcase! You can use a basket, a Montessori-style front-facing bookshelf, or wall-mounted book ledges to display your rotational books. If your reason for wanting to implement a book rotation is to encourage reading books your kids do not normally pick up, try this instead: grab a board game spinner that has colors on it and some dice. Have kids spin the wheel (green!) and roll the dice (11!) and then have them grab the 11th green book they see on the bookcase. It’s a fun little game to mix it up without taking up bins of storage space in the dark, damp basement.

Q: Is there any way to better protect books during a PCS overseas to include from mold and mildew? Do you recommend any supplies?

Yes! We live in Hawaii currently where mold and mildew are a huge problem. When moving here from Italy (also a location with a mold issue), I purchased hundreds of silica gel packets online and asked our movers to throw one or two in each box they packed. They very graciously did so and we opened up all our boxes to zero moisture issues! I always tell people it’s an investment but it’s important to protect your belongings from mold yourself because the military won’t be doing that for you.

Q: How do I protect special edition/signed copies of books?

Whenever possible, hand carry them. Even with proper packing, inevitably contents shift around and the pressure of boxes sitting on top of other boxes over months of being shipped overseas can cause damage. If you can not hand carry them, try this method: purchase some plain acid-free kraft paper and gather cardboard boxes. Cut cardboard (make sure no labels or writing is touching the covers) to fit around the important books and wrap the cardboard-protected books in the kraft paper like a present. Then place your book packets in the smallest box that will fit. Make sure to label them as high value and point them out to the movers before they pack them inside small book boxes. Do not forget your silica gel packets but do not let them touch the actual high-value books.

Q: Is there a better way to pack hardcover books versus paperback books?

Remember this organizing and packing rule: like plays well with like. Separate books by length and width first. You can separate your hardcover books and your paperback books and request that the movers pack them separately. Another method is alternating one hardcover book and one paperback book (again, size them first). The key to both methods is to pack the box tightly and fill any gaps with packing paper. Do not pack ANYTHING else with books! The test? If you pick up a box of books and you feel or hear anything shift, it is not packed right yet.