644 – Women’s History Month – PCS Planning Day with Elaine Willing

Today on the podcast, we are joined by Elaine Willig, who is an Army wife and Organized 365 lead for our new military PCS initiative. You can hear Elaine and Doug's story on the podcast in the summer of 2024. We don't number the Wednesday podcast episodes, but she and her husband did come on and talk about Organized 365 and the impact that it's made on their life. Welcome back to the Organized 365 podcast, Elaine.

Hi. Hello to all my fellow Organized 365 sisters. And you might know my name from the Organized 365 app. And I just want to also give a special hello to all my military-connected sisters. I'm happy to be here.

Yeah, I am. I'm nervously excited about finding out how many military service members we have in our audience. I know we have a lot of present, but also a lot of past. So if you have served in our military, first of all, I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for your service. In creating this PCS workbook with a lot of Elaine's help and talking to Doug and meeting with some other military service professionals, as I said in the interview with Corey, like, I knew it's kind of like if you're the Secret Service, you know, you might take a bullet for the president. Like I know as an American that our service professionals may have to give their lives for my freedom, but there's so much more sacrifice than I ever really understood. And so I, Elaine, to you and Doug, I say thank you to everyone listening, present and past. I mean, I say thank you. I just, it is, it is hard to, I feel guilty. for the sacrifices that are made on my behalf. And I feel bad that I never realized how big those sacrifices were. But we're gonna move on. We're gonna talk about how Elaine and I have really partnered over the last half a year or so to try to figure out like, how can we be part of the solution? So I wanna give a little bit of background for Elaine and I. So it was 2 years ago when I was exhibiting at the Cincinnati Great Homeschool Convention. And Elaine, you asked your father-in-law Gary to go find me and say hi for you, which is so nice.

I just wanted a picture.

Just wanted a picture. It's so funny. So he did. And when Gary showed up, he was with the head of a homeschool co-op that was at your in-laws' church. And so I said, hey, if you guys would pilot the kids program, I would give the kids program to the kids in the co-op. And they were like, yeah, that sounds great. So Gary taught it. So your father-in-law is like, okay, well, I'll teach you. I mean, the man is so sweet.

Thanks, Dad.

Apparently, he's so awesome. So he taught it. And this is when I also was doing the pilot with the school in Indiana. And so we were piloting a lot of our Organized 365 products. And so I said to Gary, I said, well, I would love to drive up and meet the kids. So the kids program was done about 3 and a half hours from my house. So I drove up. Met the kids, came back. Well, because I was driving up, Elaine, you and Doug went home because it's Doug's hometown. And you met me there and we had dinner and we started talking just about a lot of things. Like when you're in the military, I think, you know, every time you sign up for another duty station, it's like you're re-upping and re-upping and re-upping. And I know that when you and Doug and I talked, it was like, how many more re-uppings will we have? And when we are done with the military, that's kind of be like Elaine's turn, Elaine's turn to do something. So we're kind of talking about what might be your turn to do something. And Doug was going back, and I think he was getting another master's.

Yeah.

And I had started the PhD. So then Doug and I were talking about transformational leadership. So we talked about that a little bit. And then over these Voxer conversations and The couple of times we've met in person, it was like, there's gotta be something here that we can do for the military. How can we make a meaningful transformation? And you were like, they need everything. I'm like, okay, we cannot do everything. There's no way we could do everything. Like, we even met with a military strategist about, like, how to get into the military. And she basically told the 2 of us, like, you guys were ready 5 years. I don't know what you're waiting for. Like, are you waiting for them to come to you? Like, you should just create something and do something. So. I would love to open it up for you and ask you if you'd like to share a little bit about what you hoped to accomplish with a strategic partnership with Organized 365.

Yeah, I initially thought it was an amazing idea to have the paper solution and the binder system in the hands of military members and families because it's something that I needed for so long.

Mm-hmm.

And as we kept talking, we really identified that pain point of moving and how planning and learning to plan could help our community because we have all these transitions. So really just to help us through these transitions that are so disruptive. And so it was really just in the last few months that we put pen to paper. We really solidified this idea of a course to offer. And I started out, I mean, I've been listening to you for probably 10 years. And when I started out, I didn't have my papers organized, like my meal planning, my cleaning schedule, my recipes, my holiday traditions, my financial, my medical. And you helped me with that. And I didn't have my thoughts and ideas and school papers and all the influx every single week. I didn't have a handle on that. And you helped me with that. And then I didn't have goals that I was consistently identifying and achieving. You helped me with that. I didn't have an idea of what I was uniquely created to do. And you helped me with that. And I know that because you did it for me, I can see how that framework, that system, and the skill set can really benefit from using all the tools that Organize 365 has. And this idea of thriving and flourishing in life instead of truly— there have been seasons of life where it just feels like I'm clawing through survival. So I think any tool in the toolbox to help with life is invaluable. So I don't know, I guess if— so if I could, you know, wave my magic wand, I would say I would put a Sunday basket and LifeBinders and a portable Sunday basket for moving and also the PCS planning course for every military-connected person. I really would. I, I would love for them to feel like they have a handle on their life, a handle on their days, and like make this stressful event even a little bit less stressful.

Okay, so tell us, we forgot to start with this. If people, this is the first time they've heard from you. Where do you live now and who lives in your family with you?

Oh, okay. Right now we live in Williamsburg, Virginia, and I live with my husband and 3 boys who are 13, 9, and 6.

So you found me before you were done having kids?

Oh yeah. I was like really— it was like my entry into the everything years. You know, like when you're just maxed out on time and capacity and everything's happening.

And when I think about this PCSing, which we're going to talk about, this continual moving, and you think about from a psychology standpoint, like significant life events. So getting married is a significant event, moving, having a child. The cadence of these PCS moves, so permanent change of station, which is not permanent. Maybe we should come up with a new term anyway that usually lasts anywhere from whatever, 18 months to 3 years. This continual influx of moving, moving, moving along with all the other things that are happening is so overwhelming.

It really is. It's like, I know you've talked before in your podcast about Maslow's hierarchy.

Yes.

And, um, I know there's been debate about if the model still exists in the triangle shape, but if, if you can just picture the triangle shape, it's like we're just circling in the bottom levels, right? And that middle level of like love and connectedness before you can get to your purpose and your highest self is always like this looming, like maybe you have it, maybe you don't. So, like, we're always circling back around in the bottom, like, starting over. And maybe we have support and friends, and maybe we don't. Like, um, so it, it's a challenge. It really is.

And we're going to get into the practical organization of PCS here in a minute. But I, the other thing that I, um, have observed with you, and when I think to my family members who were— they were deployed. Well, they were, you know, in multiple countries. My cousins would always be in a different location all the time. Or some of the other military spouses that I've gotten to know recently through you and even like in my school. So we had this office hours or whatever, and I found out one of my colleagues in my PhD course was active duty military. And I was like, oh, I have questions for you. And so I started asking questions and like she was giving the same exact answers. It seems like the support person, the spouse, doesn't matter the gender, is second to the mission. And because they're second to the mission, and because there's so much constant moving for the soldier, that living out your unique purpose is deferred. Like, yes, when we are out of the military, then it will be your turn. And I've heard that articulated more and more. And I think that, you know, it's necessary. And also it can be for a season. But I think towards the end maybe of a military career, it becomes harder to have deferred that long. And now I've talked to some military spouses who are now out, and it doesn't necessarily turn around and become the spouse's turn.

Yeah, I think, I think a change that I've seen just culturally over the last 20-plus years is when I came in, I didn't even have— I didn't have a visual to see anybody else who was living out their purpose or had something outside of the home that was meaningful or purposeful. And I mean, some of that is because I lived overseas a lot. So there's limited access and there really weren't remote jobs when I started. You know, I was like in the MySpace era. Like, this was not heavy technology here. So I didn't have that model. But I think spouses who are coming in now can see more possibilities. And expect or want different things for their life and their purpose. Yeah.

That's great.

Okay.

All right. So let's talk about this PCS experience that we have created. So PCS again stands for Permanent Change of Station, which is not permanent. It's like 18 months to 3 years. And Organize 365 is going to start selling this course today. So you can go to the shop and learn all about that. And it is a planning course. It was going to be a planning day, but it's a planning course because PCS happening happens all the time, and we didn't wanna have a replay. And when was it gonna expire and all of that? So we're gonna talk about this in more detail. Initially, we kind of tried to combine this PCS planning day experience with what we do in home planning day, and quickly we realized, no, this does not replace home planning day. It's in addition to, like, this is your moving organization. It's not your 120-day goal planning. So it's, it's not a replacement. It's in addition to. If you are— I already know people that are in the State Department. They're like, yeah, we move all the time too. I'm like, yes, this would work for you as well. We are going to have the military lingo in there, but it works for the State Department. If you're just like moving from, I don't know, Ohio to Florida, there will be a lot of things in there that will help you as well. But there's a lot of extra stuff in there that really speaks to the military. So this PCSing is really unique work, and it deserves its own course and its own supplies. And in the interview with Corey last week, like, she didn't even really know what we were doing, and she was so like, oh my gosh, I have to PCS. I was so surprised how much of a visceral reaction she had to PCSing. Like, she's been doing this for decades. Like, she's done this so many times, and also she's not even moving to a different country. Like, literally She'll put it on a truck and then she'll be there the same day in the new house. Like, she's not even going to a different state. And she was just like, you could just see all the emotions coming up like, oh my gosh, I do not want to PCS one more time. So Elaine, I'm gonna give you the floor and I want you to give us more color. Like, what does it mean to PCS? What have been your experiences? Explain to those of us not in the military why this is such a big deal. Okay.

Well, when we move, I think it's important to first say that my spouse always has a job and it's still in the military, but the boss is different. The coworkers are different. The office culture is different. The hours he's working is different. How many times he's away on business or work trips is different. So you can go from A place where your husband is gone all the time or your spouse is gone all the time and everything rests on your shoulders to a position where he's in school, you know, 8 to 6 every day and he's home most nights. So, and home on the weekends. That's another thing. So there's a lot of back and forth with each move. So even though, yes, we are in the military and yes, the mission stays the same. There's a lot of different positions that are held at each place, and all of those changes in the workplace impact the home. So the cadence is always changing for the head of the house, always. So I personally have moved 12 times, and 6— I mean, they were— 6 of them were overseas assignments, so almost all of them Have been overseas moves, like here and back and here and back and here and back. And every time I've moved overseas or back home to the States, we go without our things for about three months. So we're living out of suitcases for about three months. Now, I learned real quick what I always needed to have with me. So in my suitcase, I decided I needed to have. My own kitchen kit. I'm a little crazy, but like I needed a pot to boil water. I needed a sauté pan. I wanted my favorite paring knives. You know, like you get to know the things that you have to have. And it's always so funny every time we move and I'm living out of a suitcase for three months. Usually, I mean there's onesies and twosies things we buy to make it through, but it's always like so interesting how. A lot of those times it's like, oh, it's nice. Like, I can make it with just a suitcase. But do you want to hear all the places that I've lived?

Oh yeah, I want to hear everything.

Get your passport.

Okay.

Okay, let's start out here. Friedberg, Germany. Fort Benning, Georgia. Fort Lewis, Washington. Vilseck, Germany. Mainz, Germany, West Point, New York, Hamburg, Germany, Fort Polk, Louisiana, Honolulu, Hawaii, Berlin, Germany, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and Williamsburg, Virginia.

And can anybody now guess where— so you get to rank where you want to be. It doesn't mean you're going to get it, but Doug is waiting to hear where his War College assignment will be and where his battalion, brigade command, brigade, sorry, brigade, sorry, brigade, bigger brigade, brigade command will be. How many of you can guess if Germany is on the list? That was a theme in the pinning ceremony. They were like, how many times can we say Germany while we're in a pinning ceremony?

It truly feels like home. It really does. So, um, but I mean, each, each move really can have a different flavor, and each move can have, you know, disasters along the way. Like my first move as a spouse, my passport was packed by the movers and already gone. So we had to scramble. I mean, this is like, this is like rule number one. As a spouse, like you have your military ID and you have your passport, or else you can't leave the country. So my passport was packed. We I embarrassingly had to make an emergency appointment at the embassy in Frankfurt to get a new passport, and you better believe that that never ever happened again. I was mortified. So I mean, there's a million things to get done during a move. And it's so easy in the absolute chaos of packout to forget something or just see what's right in front of your face, like see what's right in front of you and forget all these other things that are also very important. So yeah. I do, I do remember. I do remember too. Like, I mean, You have to remember that every time we go, we're saying goodbye to an entire life that we've built. Now, sometimes, sometimes we're happy to leave. Like, it— maybe it's not a great fit, like, or maybe the location just doesn't, like, spark joy. But, um, there have been a lot of locations where we've said goodbye to people that we have really grown to love. Or we show up to a place and it's just really challenging. And we've had some interesting assignments. I remember in Berlin, I had to take my first grader to the local German elementary school, and I barely understood his teacher. She was so sweet and kind, but she had a different accent than I was used to learning German in. My son didn't speak fluent German. And there came a time when I walked into school and I had to walk away. I had to walk away and trust that he was okay. So there's like this emotional aspect of just kind of being out there. Like, you're out there just trying to survive. And not everything is easy. You know, so I know those are stories that, um, he remembers it, but I really hold all the emotion from all those experiences.

This is not in our notes, but I know that one of the things that you feel you're uniquely gifted and called to do— and I don't know how this will come to be or, you know, how you're going to do this— is this idea of these stories. Like, you were telling me when I was in Williamsburg with you last week about how you used to travel back and forth to see Doug or to see your family. You'd be stationed in Germany, how you would get home. Can you share that story?

Yeah. Well, okay. I truly believe that our stories are for us now. Like, all the things that we've experienced. People write stories of their life. Like in this viewpoint of like giving your stories, your life stories and life lessons, like as like a thing to pass on. But I really think that they're like our treasures right now to really remember the high points and the lessons we've learned. And so, yeah, I used to take these flights with the Air Force. It's called Space A, Space Available. Which Which means if planes that are flying on regular missions have extra seats, you can sign up to use one of the seats to fly wherever they're going. And because Doug was deployed, I would go home, or when he was gone on TDY, I would leave if he was going to be gone for a long period of time and just take that time to go back and visit my mom and my family. And I'll never forget the first time I did it. I Was finally called for a flight. I had been waiting around all day. I used a payphone to call my mom because—

Say you're middle-aged without saying you're middle-aged. MySpace, payphones. This is gonna be the Easter egg of this whole, this whole podcast.

I know, I know.

Payphones. I am Googling, what is a payphone?

I know, it was like using a calling card. Um, anyways, we finally got out To a bus that was driving us out to this C-5, which is a gigantic plane, and it was dark out. And the bus pulls up and it felt like I was pulling up, like, under the water to see a giant whale. Like, it was huge. And in a C-5, there's a lot of cargo underneath. And then I didn't know what I was getting into. I was just happy for the free flight. But my eyes were like, what? When I had to climb up a little ladder to the very top where there was like about, I don't know, 40 seats facing backwards. And that's what we were flying home. I mean—

How long is this flight? Okay. And when you're saying, like, when you were telling me the story, like, I would fly, you know, these Space A available. I'm thinking, you know, American. Oh yeah, you're on the— like, if there's space on a commercial airline.

No.

You get on. No, you guys, this is like a military—

Yeah.

Whale that has strapped in the middle pallets of stuff that has to go wherever it has to go. And then if you imagine, like, if you imagine a military movie and they're in one of these huge things and they've got the seats on the edges, like on—

Yeah.

And you're strapped—

They flip down.

My first question when you showed me this thing, I was like, is it heated? And you're like, no.

You can bring your sleeping bag.

Oh my gosh. And how long is this flight? Well, I mean, it depends where you're going, but around 6 to 7 hours. 6 or 7 hours unheated with cargo. That's how—

Listen, they give you— They give you a lunchbox. It was actually like, I was like, oh, wow, there was a cookie and everything.

Oh my goodness. So, yeah, always an adventure. These stories, like this idea of sharing your stories, when you were talking about, like, you have this idea to have military spouses coming together and recording their stories for their families, it reminded me a lot of— I've read a couple of books that were written about employees of the White House, which kind of tell you like how— because White House employees, like, they're there for decades, they're there through all the different administrations. Um, or stories of, you know, like Secret Service, things like that, where you kind of get the behind the scenes. So anyways, I find it, I find it interesting. I, I like the stories. I like hearing the stories, the lived experience.

Yeah, it's funny too because we for like I forget all of those. And I think I showed you those pictures because I came across them and I thought, oh my goodness. I mean, I never had a picture to even show my family what it really looked like.

Yeah.

It was before I had my own cell phone with a camera. So I was excited to show my mom and say, oh my goodness, remember when I used to fly home? This is what it was.

Unbelievable.

Now you can picture yourself.

Did she have any idea that's how you were getting to her?

I mean, yes, because she would have to either come get me or I would— yeah, she knew that that's how I was coming home. It's not going to a commercial location, but there's— it's really hard to picture what it's like inside an aircraft if you've never seen it before. So yeah. Yeah.

Oh my goodness. Okay. So let's talk about this PCS workbook that we created. So, you know, Organize 365 always has like physical products or workbooks to take you through the course. So we're gonna talk about the course workbook. And just like on Home Planning Day, so if you have a reference for Home Planning Day, each of the steps in this PCS course have different steps. But you may be in a, a different season and experience PCSing differently. So when you first got married, That's a funny story too. But anyways, you didn't have children. So there were a certain number of years where you and Doug were in the military and you did not have children that were part of the PCS experience. I know that when we were really talking about how could we support military, and we were talking to Doug and we were talking about like in a unit, like let's say of 100 people in a unit, how many people would voluntarily avail themselves of a PCS? training experience? How many would the leadership say, you know, these people really could use the support of a military PCS experience? And those numbers were pretty low, but still significant because there are so many people in the military. And so we were talking about your experience and how, as the complexity of your family has grown, the complexity of the move has grown. So like PCSing the first couple of times, wasn't as big of a deal as now when you've got like, you know, a grade schooler and 2 babies and now you're stuck in Hawaii in a hotel for like 3 months because the housing you were going to get is like— so anyway, like, tell me about how this, this PCSing experience actually gets harder the longer you're in the military, not easier.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it just, I mean, every family has complexities. Like everybody has something either that they come into service with or just even day-to-day regular family experiences, like having another child. I mean, I know for us, we have a lot of food allergies. And so I know that I've really had to work hard when we're PCSing sourcing food that's safe for us. And then, you know, I said that I bring all of my own kitchen kit because I can't just rely on— if like if we're in lodging, I can't rely on the things that they offer. I have to have my own safe pans or my own safe utensils. So There are just so many layers of even just basic needs. You know, we talked about kind of circling around the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy. Like, I, I mean, yes, of course, we usually have a place to stay. But really, just even the survival of getting meals out every meal and getting through all the laundry when you have a baby and A toddler, and I lived on the 3rd floor of a hotel, and I had to get my laundry downstairs and then change it and then come back and bring it up. And I mean, I was carrying my baby in the laundry basket down the stairs with my toddler.

It was just—

it was— is very hard. It's like even just the day-to-day things can be hard. And You know, when we move overseas, we can only bring one car. And in Berlin, where we had a house, we only had one parking spot. So I— to grocery shop, I had to walk with my baby and my toddler to the grocery store, which is about a mile away, and then walk all my groceries a mile back with my baby and toddler. And like, let's just hope that there was no crying involved. There were a few times that all my heavy bags on the back, like, would— I had to, like, really forcefully hold the stroller up so it wouldn't, like, tip. Like, it was just a whole different way of doing regular daily activities, let alone anything enriching in life, like, you know, hobbies or things that you can think of that make you, you, you know? It was really just, like, tasks of daily living. So I don't know. I really kind of going back to your topic of these stories and the journaling, we put those stories in. I mean, we put the journaling prompts into the workbook and certain ones sprinkled throughout. And understanding that there is this tactical and strategic component of Things that have to get done for a move, like the things that would be on a checklist, right? But there's all these other things that come with the move that can be spoken or for a very long time in my life were unspoken. And really, all those came out of my own personal experience with grief. Because when I came into military life, I was part of a culture that was very suck it up and move on. And the truth of it is, I lost my dad when I was 5 to a brain tumor. And I grieved that loss for decades alone. And so when I experienced the grief of Having to say goodbye to a life that I wasn't ready to say goodbye to, I could identify it and I could recognize that what I was feeling, even though I heard no one say that it was grief, I knew it was grief. I remember a specific point where we had lived in Vilsack for 3 years and I had just The best friend. Like, we called, you know, we call each other battle buddies. Like, she was my friend from the day I met her. It was like instant. And we had gone through a 15-month deployment together, supporting each other, doing big things and little things like go on vacation together, take walks in the neighborhood together. You know, celebrate her anniversary by grilling steaks, and neither one of us knew how to grill when our husbands were deployed. Like we're outside in the in the snow trying to grill some steaks to celebrate together. Just doing all the things right, and her time was up, and my time was up. And I remember just sobbing in my living room, taking down my curtains. I just wasn't ready to live life without her. And there's just nothing you can do. Like, you have to go. You have to move on. But I think that's I think it's powerful now for me to be able to say I can identify what that was. And I think that there's power in being able to talk about it with other spouses, to be able to identify that with other spouses. And I know even a few weeks ago, The, the conversation of moving came up again for us, and my brain started spinning. It's like the only thing I can say is that it's like unproductive thinking. Like, I wasn't thinking about anything in particular. It was like my brain couldn't land, and, um, it just feels like overwhelm without getting anything done. So I marched myself back up to my office and I printed out those questions that I had created and those prompts and things like, what did I learn here while I was here at this duty station? And what stories do I want to remember? And what stories do I want to share? Like share with my kids? Like, you know, those stories that, those family stories that like you say again and again and it becomes, even though the kids weren't old enough to really remember, really becomes Mm-hmm. And what are my current limitations and advantages? And I think some of them are an emotional piece. Some of them are a strategic piece, you know, really being able to recognize like, wow, this duty station was so fulfilling. I know I want to look for friendships like that in the next place. Or, you know what, this duty station was really lonely and I just had to have my nose down for my family, or I did not have the resources for X, Y, and Z. And, you know, next time, this is what I want to do. Or even thinking, this is my chance. My husband's job is going to have a little bit more margin in it. So maybe I can pour into myself and go back to school or start a job. Those are really, really, I think, important things to identify before before you start moving. So the power is really in the pre-decision. And it really, I think it makes it easier. It makes it easier to close out a chapter and to start a new one with this positive energy. It's like you're creating your own golden window for yourself, like to use your term back with you.

Yes.

This, this positive energy that can help push you through, even if you have grief in that same season.

And you mentioned wanting everyone in the military to have the Embrace experience, you know, and, and, uh, you came up with these questions that we put in the planning course, and we begin with questions and we end with questions. They're very Embrace-esque, I would say. Um, but we also talked before we moved this to a course, and this was going to be a planning day. We also talked as we were, you know, organizing the workbook and realizing the questions came first. We both acknowledged that if we started with these questions, it's gonna bring up a lot of emotions, and it could be that if you're going through a 4-hour experience or a 6-hour day with me, and we start with these questions, like, you're gonna start spinning, and you're not never gonna come back to the actual experience. So I'm really glad that we switched it to a course for many reasons. And I could easily see military people in the military right now skipping the questions the first couple of times through. Kind of like, I know you guys listen to my podcast and you skip the one about the depression story, and then accidentally it plays when you're listening in. You're like, oh, because you just, you know, you're just not ready. So I think when it's a course, Those questions because they're gonna be their own, you know, unit. People can choose to skip them because this mental health aspect of this PCSing is really hard, isn't it?

It is, you know, and those reflection questions, some of them might be an easy answer and some of them might take a lot of time to really think about it. And that's okay. Sometimes you don't, you can't think of the answer right away. That's all right. Sometimes you really need to mull on it. I think the power in that is just having the question that you have in your pocket as a tool, and you can use it when you need it. I know that mental health is A hot topic in, well, the military, but also just in regular life. Like, you know, we talk about in the world, we've all heard about this loneliness epidemic.

Mm-hmm.

And when we are constantly leaving our support people and network, it's really easy to carry our burdens alone. And The expectation of what a spouse needs to carry is always changing with each job and adding new people to the family or changing proximity to your family of origin and the amount of support that you get from your family of origin. And I can see this all now looking back. But when I was an early spouse, I didn't know how to look ahead and to see each position and each duty station strategically, like to look at it and say, okay, my advantage of this duty station is that I'll be in a neighborhood. And so I'll have access to other people for support. And my disadvantage is that my husband will be gone a lot. So let me look really carefully at like what I have coming up. And I guess that's the benefit of being in long enough. To be able to look back and to see that trajectory. So it's a really incredible thing to be able to have an opportunity to teach other spouses. Like, you can— there are a lot of things that we can't plan. Let's be honest. And a lot of things are decided for us. In our life, but to be able to look at what we have and decide what's important, I think helps with mental health. And, um, I know that when family is struggling, um, and when a spouse is struggling, then usually a soldier or service member is struggling too. And I do, I do just want to say, like, there's a, for those who aren't military connected, and it wasn't really until recently that I realized this, Even though we're all experienced in the military, a lot of us are experiencing moving. We experience it alone. Like when you're packing out, you're packing out alone. When you get to a new place, you're usually showing up and there could be a sponsor, which is somebody who can answer questions for you or show you where things are, but you're really processing through everything alone until you have A close person, which may or may not come. So it's very, it's a very isolating experience.

So, you know, we started talking about creating this Planning Day Now course. You know, I am a very practical, functional organizing person. I'm like, okay, we're gonna need hashtag all the checklists. And I'm like, surely there are checklists and the I Love Me binder and like all these things. Like, I need to know all the things so I can organize them so we can give like a system to people who are moving. And there definitely are. All the checklists are in this book. But what I realized was you can find the checklists if you want to. And yes, you're probably recobbling them together, and that is definitely a benefit of the course. But it is more of this not buy-in, but recommitment. Like the soldier has re-upped, the spouse also has to re-up. Like, okay, yep, we're going here and this is what it's going to be. And not only am I going, but I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to go proactively. And I'm going to think about what are the positives that will come from this. You know, even as you're speaking, I'm like, well, there would be seasons where you have this friendship and Doug is deployed, you know, off to some very scary place. Or there's a season where we're in a war college and, you know, we have a lot of family memories and could do a lot more of those things. And we're more insular in the family during that time. Being able to recognize that in advance, like, it feels to me like all of us, all of us are very reactive in our lives, especially at home, just because there's so— there's always so much to do. But in the military, you're ultimately reactive because even if you put in where you would like to go, they're going to send you wherever they're going to send you, or you're out.

Mm-hmm.

Like, I mean, these are— it's really not optional. It's not like you're like, actually, I was thinking— they're like, Actually, the bus is leaving. So get on. Yeah, get on the bus, or get off the bus, whatever. We don't care. But the bus is leaving, and this is where your seat is. So it is, it is reactive. Like, there's not a lot of proactivity. But in this course you become more proactive. But the things that you learn in Organize 365 and Embrace and in Home Planning and Day and all those things where you're proactively planning out your next season, your next iteration, those are in The course, and it takes something that is pretty much reactionary and do as I tell you to and gives you a place for you and a place for you to start to be proactive if you haven't been before.

Yeah, I mean, truly, it's a chance to really determine what is important to you in this next duty station and what you have capacity for and what your needs are. And, um, I know through all those places that I've lived, the ones that have been the best and the hardest to leave are the ones where I have community. Like, people and community is just the magic of life. It really is. Like, I— it's just like the best part of life. And I think that it's the thing that Makes our easy days fun, and it makes our hard things bearable. We we do have a reputation for jumping into relationships really fast and kind of cutting through the fluff, and I'm okay with that. I mean, it kind of fits with my personality to begin with, but it's this idea that I just don't have time. Like, let's just. Let's get to the good stuff, right? Let's just move past the chitchat. And also, also, you know, I talked about how when you get to a place, a lot of times you can just be like desperate and you need help. And like, I remember showing up to Fort Polk and I needed a pack and play for Luke to sleep in. And I Put a message out, and I'm not kidding, within minutes I had somebody I didn't even know offering up their pack and play. Come on over, you can grab it, no problem. Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Elaine. Thank you so much for letting me borrow your pack and play. Um, and also, like, we always have to have emergency contacts. Um, yeah, you know, when you move somewhere new—

This blows me away, you guys. This blows me away.

Yes. You are always filling out new forms for New medical forms, and you always have to have a local emergency contact. So it's like when you move somewhere, you're always scouting, like, oh, hi, nice to meet you. Can I have your phone number? Can you please be my contact? My kid keeps everywhere and they can't get me.

Would you get them? Do you have a car seat? Like, yeah, yeah. Do you know where the local school is?

Great.

Sign right here.

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah.

It's like, you know, forced vulnerability.

Yeah.

Yeah.

As we were creating this workbook together, and I was hearing more and more of your stories, and now that I've been out to Williamsburg and was at the ceremony for Doug's promotion, which is so great, saw his dad again. Hi, Gary. So great. And then I came back to your house afterwards. We have a picture of me emptying our dish— the dishwasher was open when I walked in, so I walked right over and I'm Putting away dishes. You come in the kitchen, you're like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm putting away dishes. People are on their way. I got to meet pretty much everybody who was at your house, either was military, former military, or the couple of friends from Mississippi who were really fun who came up for the celebration.

Yeah.

It was just even in hearing their stories, if they were active or the military life and the fact that a lot of them were living in Williamsburg permanently now, like, came out in everyday conversation, you know, like, I finally got to plant bulbs and now they're coming up too soon. And how are my bulbs going to live? I finally have bulbs. This is ridiculous. And it was just hearing, you know, having listened to you for so long and then listening to conversations, I'm like, wow, it's so different than how I grew up. And what was really cool about the, the pinning ceremony when Doug promoted was There was someone in the audience from every single place that you have lived. And I thought that was really a testimony to both of you that people would travel that far for that. And the connections that you've made and continue to have from all of these duty stations that you were part of. And it made me realize, you know, when we created this experience, we had no idea what we were doing in the beginning, actually.

Yeah.

It kept morphing and changing and, okay, it's gonna be this, it's gonna be this. And I was like, Here's the thing, just make all the sheets. And then we just kept going back and back collaboratively, added in this embrace type of experience, added in all the checklists. And after I was in Williamsburg and we pretty much had the course all the way done, I said, I get it. I get what we're doing now. I understand my unique part of this. My unique part of this is that I want to support those of you that are in the military to get to community faster. In your new station? Because I'm sure there are a couple of places where you're like, yay, I'm glad this duty station is over. But there are many, many more where you're like, I don't want to go. And if you're going to end up with I don't want to go, let's get you to I don't want to go faster. Like, why take 9 months to meet your best friend when you could meet your best friend in 9 dates? Like, how could we, like, go into the new duty station in this grief, in this legitimate grief from the one that you are leaving? But with this posture of, but it's— I'm also not going to want to leave this place as well. So I'm going to get to collect new friends here. So how can I do that? And so we did try to fold that in as well, that intention of, yes, this is hard. Yes, I don't want to leave. Yes, I have no idea what I'm in for. But also pretty sure 18 months to 3 years from now, I'm going to say I don't want to leave this place either. So let's go in with this posture of this is also going to be awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you shared about your emergency contact, which you guys, it's like, I'm like, you know, at the end, at the end of the workbook, we ask you more questions. It was, it was interesting when we thought about, you know, you have your checklist of packing everything up and you end up at this new duty station and you wait forever apparently for your stuff to come that is usually broken apparently. So your stuff comes, maybe it's broken, maybe it's not, and the physical things get there, but you've been living out of this suitcase for a period of time.

How—

I really struggle with how do we proactively anticipate community? How do you even do that? So we did it in the back, but I was wondering what you wanted to say about those questions that we asked you there at the back.

Yeah, I think just reiterating, I think it's being strategic. So it's really taking the time, like in the course or in the live workshop, taking time to really decide what you need in the next location for what it will be like.

Mm-hmm.

Evaluating how much time you have based on your soldier's new position or your kids' activities or deployments? Do you need somebody to clean your house? Do you need to go to counseling? Do you need a mother's helper or a nanny or a regular babysitter? Do you need a preschool? I mean, there are so many things that Can be pre-decided, that you can really look at yourself. And I think when people actually take the time to say, okay, in the, in the swirl, the tornado of this move, okay, what, what do I need? Because, you know, as a mom, I'm always so quick to think about what do my kids need at this next place, like trying to build their community or trying to, you You know, have them in the right school or the right activities, or, you know, even just like personal growth, like, hey, maybe at this next place they'll try soccer, or maybe they'll try baseball or acting or whatever, right? Like, I'm thinking about them and their own growth and their experiences and kind of wanting to pad the landing for them. But it is so important for the head of house to also take the time and the energy to care about yourself. So like, I know a lot of friends who have been involved in things like a CrossFit box that has amazing community. And they say, I mean, the first day I'm there, I'm at the box, like I'm ready to go, or other fitness classes like SLAM, or, you know, PWOC or CWOC, which is like a Bible study on post. a faith-based group, or, um, I mean, there's all kinds of different things. I think I also had mentioned before about like going back to school, whether online or in person, or starting a job. You know, there's spouses clubs, like organizations that are kind of at every post that you can look at and think about. And then your own personal development. A book club, you know, like, or learning, like, I just, I just need to laugh. I really just need some fun. I need some levity at this place. Or, um, I really need depth of heart. I really need like a close relationship. Or I just need a little more money and I need a job. So, you know, each place is going to be a different season of life. It's kind of like our Our lives, especially military lives, are like puzzle pieces. Like, they— you can see how they all fit together. Each duty station, they fit together, but they definitely have like a distinct feel. It's like I've had all these chapters of my life. So really being able to distinctly look at your current chapter and how that left you or how you are now from that chapter and looking ahead.

Yeah, and I think when we think about getting to community faster, what I would guess happens, you know, in Corey's interview a couple of weeks ago, she talked about how, you know, a lot of the move falls on the non-soldier to do the actual work of the move. So here you've landed in a new duty station, soldier off to, you know, they've got all these things they're doing and all, you know, all these things where they're being integrated into the community. If you have children, obviously enroll them in school, get them going extracurricular, babysitters. That's obvious. Boxes are coming. Make beds, unpack, you know, make house. And I think in— I'll read some of the things we have. We have a lot of things at the end here that give you ideas. Personally, what I would do, you can speak to this, but personally what I would do is I would get in, I would make sure my spouse is ready for their thing. I would get the kids ready to go where they need to go. I'd spend some time making my house my house. And you know, there, there is no end. You know, Corey in the last interview said if you need to change your licensure, you can't necessarily start a job. So you're in this period of where you're not working, even if you were working in the last duty station. You know, this when your house is ready and you can now get into some community, that's really up to you. It could be 2 days, it could be 2 years before you're like, yeah, my house, my house. Okay, I finally have my house exactly how I want it. Now I'm going to go look for community. And what we're trying to do is have you think about that on the airplane, like before you leave or while you're on the airplane or in the, in the hotel waiting for your stuff to arrive. You're like, yes, and this is how I'm going to, I'm going to get involved in community. So we have down like looking at community-based groups, fitness-related groups, faith-based groups, military community groups, things that you want for yourself personally, like Of course, I put this one in here. Your bucket list and your travel ideas. I mean, like, you're in a new place. Like, let's go do some field trips for ourselves. Personal hobbies. You know, if you cross stitch or you like whatever hobby you have, there'll be people wherever you go that do that hobby. Finding hairdresser and beauty services for yourself. Another big one you and I talked about that's in here is anything food related. I had an exclamation mark on this page. You're like, why is there an exclamation mark here? I was like, I'll take it out when we were editing. But I was like, oh yeah, food is a big deal. Like you were talking about how your family has a lot of challenges with food. So, we have down like, what's your grocery store going to be? What are the restaurants you can go to? What are the online stores? Those can all be researched before you get to wherever you're going. So, you're like, and this is where I'm going to go and this is what I'm going to buy more proactively. So, once you get there, you're like, and I know where I'm going. I know how I'm going to feed my family. It's not like, okay, I'm here now. Now, which grocery store is going to work for me?

All kinds of things have changed. Yeah, things have changed so much. I know that even something like, um, shipping options, I should say, are just like so much better. Um, I like— a very tiny example would be like, okay, what, what American food items might I want to order? So like, okay, I can get my taco seasoning from Thrive Market or from Amazon or from Walmart, and they will ship it to my address, my military address. I mean, when we started, it was like bare bones. Maybe Target was like one of the first ones that I remember people having Target orders. But, you know, Amazon started out with just books. So like it's really evolved over the years to be able to source out things that you might need that are special to your family wherever you go. And yeah, you can decide that before you go. What things will I constantly reorder? And hey, how many times do you think in a year I might reorder? Like how many times do we have tacos? Well, once a week. Great. You can systematize how many times you're making that order. It's And it's just so powerful to think ahead. It really is.

Yeah. It makes you feel more in control. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And it takes the noise out of your mind. Like, being ready. I think being ready and prepared is a valuable piece of mental health.

Yeah, we're gonna get back to food here in a minute. I wanna go ahead and just go through the workbook kind of in order so you can hear what the course is going to have in it. First, in the beginning, I really introduce you to the Organized 365 colors because, you know, we are hoping to do this on military bases where I'll come in person and we'll do this in a 6-hour planning experience live. So people won't necessarily know about Organized 365. So everything's color-coded. You're on the Organized 365 podcast, you know what I'm talking about. So pink is personal, but it's also the color we use for travel. So anything travel-related we put as pink. Purple is your housing— current housing, future housing, in-between housing, all the housing. Blue is anything people-related, and green is anything finance-related. We do start just like I do in my other planning days. So there are a lot of planning day elements, even though this is a course. Talking about some reflection questions that Elaine talked about, your golden windows, what stage of life that you're in, kind of acknowledging. One nice thing about the PCS experience is it's only a couple of years, so you really can narrow in on like, okay, in this next 2 to 3 years, you know, what season are we in? And let's really dive into that season. And then I try to manipulate time for you, as I usually do in these planning experiences where we talk about your PCS season. And I've really realized in talking with Elaine that this is like a 4 to 6 month season. There is a pre, uh, pre-move, during move, and after move. And we kind of have bucketed it that way where you can check things off pre-move, during move, and after move. Um, and in there we also have your 120-day plan. So when you get closer to the move, you really can have your whole calendar Inside of the workbook for you. Then we go into the checklists and there are tons of checklists. So there are actionables related to housing, vehicles, utilities. Elaine, did you want to say anything else about the vehicles? The vehicle thing apparently is a really big deal in PCSing.

Well, yeah, it depends on where you're going. So typically It just creates a lot of extra work. You can typically ship one car if you're going overseas, but there's a lot of preparation. You have to make sure that there's no environmental debris left on the car. So like any, you know, if you ever lived under a tree that has like those little twirly things, like no little leaves or pine needles stuck anywhere. It has to really be clean and your gas has to be pretty low for shipping. Shipment, and a lot of times people will pay out of pocket to send their own, you know, second vehicle. So it's a lot of information that has to be managed outside of the regular move. That's something you have to manage on your own. And then for your vehicle, you have to take it to a port for shipment. So that's a lot of extra travel and coordination, especially if you're already out of your house. And, you know, just it, it throws like a whole nother trip into all the moving and travel. Um, so, and then if you're stateside, you know, a lot of people incur very long drives to go from one duty station to another. Um, Like, for instance, we drove from Georgia all the way across out west and then all the way up the West Coast to get up to Fort Lewis, Washington. And it just— it's like a trip, but we're never really stopping to smell the roses. Like, it's really like— Pretty, pretty fast and furious trying to get through to the next place to kind of pop up our tent and not be cooped up.

So the vehicles are a thing. So we gave you a checklist for it.

That's right.

We have some suggestions of what you definitely need to do. But also these checklists are very open-ended. So you can write in whatever you want to write in. And the idea is when you do the next PCS, you kind of created your own master list of what's unique to you. So that'll really support you going forward.

Mm-hmm.

We've got a checklist for utilities, and, you know, we have all this set up so you have like pre and post. So utilities you have to turn off and utilities you have to turn on, and moving out and moving in. We've also included in the course the 10 Steps to an Organized Move, which is just my regular moving course that we've had for forever. So that's in there, and that you can see that. And then we have the packing and the moving section, which I was like, wow, I didn't even know there are this many ways to pack things. There are a lot of ways to pack things. So we have unaccompanied baggage, do not pack list, and long-term storage. Elaine, explain.

Okay, so when moving overseas, you typically will get a smaller shipment of goods that will come in about 30 days, and you can't— there's like size restrictions. So there's so much, only so much that you can really give yourself, but it's essentially so that you You can have kitchen items, or for instance, if you're moving from one season to a different, you know, a whole different climate, like you're moving from somewhere really sunny and warm to you need winter boots, winter jackets, and all this stuff, and all that gear doesn't fit in your suitcase to go, you can put that in your 30-day unaccompanied baggage. And sometimes things like pro gear, work gear will be included in that. As well. And yeah, you need your items for your travel. So like if you're in temporary lodging or you're in a hotel or you're going home to visit family in between, you need all the things to live for all of those different situations, everything for the road trip or the airplane, you know. Hashtag all the things. And then, yeah, there's always a do not pack, you know, section. So that could be like you fill your car with things that you don't want to pack. That's really a safe option, especially because you can lock your car. And, or it could be a room or a closet. But I've heard of, you know, people's do not pack list getting packed anyways if it's not secure. So, but I, I mean, for each time that we've moved, I've made those lists again and again each time, as opposed to just making something standard and then having my specialties. It's like I'm reinventing the wheel. And actually, it's funny, I, um, when I was creating some of my binders, I came across my lists from moves and I kept them. It was like, this is really a good snapshot of like my life. from 4 years ago when I needed like the stroller and the baby carrier and, you know, all the baby food and, you know, making puree in the Airbnb and like all the little spoons and the pacifiers, like all the things, right? And moving's a little different now. It's different.

Aw.

Yeah, I wish that I had that system— systemization. Why can't I say that word? A better system that was more easy to reuse each time and then just put— change those like specialty things.

And the long-term storage, I kind of like pictured how we set up your storage room like a prepaid store and you've got these bins. And so I asked you, I was like, well, I'm thinking that you probably have things like at your mom's house, at Doug's parents' house, that like— and you were like, oh yeah. I was like, or like, if you have 2 cars and you only take one overseas, like the other car is probably somewhere. So we have this long-term storage page, and on that page, I'll flip to it. Oh yeah, here it is. We have the item. And then we have the bin number, and then we have the location. So like, where is it? And then if you have numbered bins or boxes, like, again, as you keep doing this over and over and over again, you can get better systems.

Yeah. Which is necessary because it just gets more and more complex.

Yeah.

Like you can have storage at multiple locations or, and you, I mean, and as the years go on, my brain gets fuller and I have less brainpower to remember what's at each place. So if it could just be written down, that would be great. I think I remember, but I don't remember.

So, no. And, you know, there was someone that I met, um, when I was out there to see you that like collected houses at every duty station. So they like had rental properties everywhere. And I think that's probably more normal. Like, I don't think you get one every single station, but I think there are a lot of military families that have a lot of properties. And so then when you leave that property, you might leave some things there also.

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah, that is a really common thing. I don't know that people leave things there, but there's a lot to manage and there's a lot of information that you still have to have at the ready all the time for if you have renters there or if you have family living there. You really have to be prepared with all of that.

Okay, so then we go into people. So we have a section for kids and pets. And then we have a pretty robust section for medical, for your records, your medications, your doctors. And then we've added into the course something that I gave away during COVID called the Mini Medical Binder. So that's gonna be a free bonus inside of this course, because if you don't have the paper solution, you're new to Organize 365, it's pretty essential that you have written out your basic medical— you know, you're gonna land in a new place. You don't know anybody. They're gonna be your emergency contact, like, they're not gonna know you have a latex allergy or when your last whatever it is. So I, I think that's really essential to have that and have that packed at all times. So I went ahead and added that. We have a finance section, and in there we have an expense tracker. Now, when we did the expense tracker— I, I'm sorry, I did not retain anything you told me, Elaine, but there are like a whole bunch. There's, there's gobbledygook on this page. There's a TLA, a TLE, there's a voucher, there's personal, like Go.

Well, there's just a lot of paperwork that you can file for things that the military will cover. Um, and so you want to make sure that you have the right numbers, the right receipts going to the right people at the right time. Um, and if you don't have a place to put all that information, It, it can cost you a lot out of pocket. So you want to make sure that you have all of those numbers and receipts. And just on a personal side, it can be very expensive thinking about, well, when we get somewhere and I'm just trying to entertain my kids, let's do— let's go to Target and then— or let's go to Target and just get, you know, counter spray and paper towels and toilet paper. And then like, you know, add to cart, add to cart, add to cart. You want to make sure that you're not putting yourself in a bad situation financially, just trying to survive or not pay attention. So just this advantage of really paying attention and being mindful during this time. Sometimes I feel like it can feel like vacation, not vacation mode, but like when you go on vacation and sometimes you're like—

Whatever, just start.

Yeah. So, um, yeah, I think it's just important to not create your own financial hardship because things can really add up.

Yeah, yeah, I can feel that. So then we have important documents. It's a whole big long checklist just to make sure you have all that. And then we go into personal and travel. So like for yourself personally, like you're going to, if you have children, you're gonna make sure you get all their doctor's appointments and all that. But remember, you have those too, by the way. Like check for yourself, all of your personal and things that you're going to need in travel. And then also, um, we have in here like a 1-week meal plan. So the 1-week meal plan, it's really the sheet that you see in the home planning day where you can like say, okay, so for this 120 days, these are gonna be our breakfasts, our lunch, or our dinners. But after we really talked about it, Elaine, we came up with That really, no matter where you're moving, it's a 7-day experience at least. Because I mean, you're gonna have the movers come and it takes them a couple days to move you out. And then you've gotta travel wherever you're going. And then at least a couple days before they get there. And that's if you're in a local move, like that's the minimum. It's gonna be 7 days without a kitchen basically. And I mean, yes, you can choose to eat out all of that if you want, but also you could be pretty strategic. And, you know, yes, you'll have your pizza day, but also you can, you know, take your Crock-Pot and then you've got the Crock-Pot things and, and really plan out what you need for your meals.

Yeah. I remember when we moved to Hawaii, we were in a hotel or lodging for 3 months. And I, my one, one of my dear friends sent me an Instant Pot and it was like kind of when they were brand new and I was so stoked and I knew that I had some resources in the hotel room. Like it was a tiny sink and I think one burner. And so I went to the thrift store and I got myself a Crock-Pot because I wasn't going to— I didn't have room to bring that in my suitcase. But yeah, I had a Crock-Pot, I had an Instant Pot. And if I would have had the planning, that would have been the icing on the cake so that I could say, you know what, these are the 5 Crock-Pot meals I'm going to rotate. These are the 5 Instant Pot meals I'm going to rotate. I can definitely do breakfast. and lunch, you know, sandwiches or cereal or oatmeal or whatever, and just take all of that thinking and all the decision fatigue out of, you know, that 3 months. That would be great.

Yeah, I'm thinking back to like when Greg and I would drive to Florida and we didn't have money to eat out. So we would drive down there and then We had to make dinner one night. And so I would literally pack in a Ziploc bag, like the cup of flour with the paprika, with whatever that I put the chicken in, and buy the spaghetti when I was down there so that I had everything. Like, if you have it all planned out and you pack the spices only, because I mean, when you get somewhere, if you have to like go out and buy paprika, like that's like $7, $10. Like, if you at least have the taco, like you were saying, the taco seasoning already.

Yeah.

Well, you're not gonna bring the ground meat with you. And you're not gonna bring the tortillas with you. But if you have like the expensive ingredients, you only need a little bit of with you. And then, you know, you mentioned the thrift store, and also when we were in Williamsburg, you mentioned Goodwill, and I hadn't really thought of put 2 and 2 together, but I'm just putting it together now. Like, oh my gosh, anytime you go to a Goodwill or a thrift store, there are like mini appliances everywhere. And I'm sure that they don't cost very much, right? Yeah, that would be a way to equip the kitchen.

Yeah, I would go— I mean, there, there have been locations where there haven't been like a regular assortment of like American things, but most posts will have a spouse-run thrift store. And so it's a place where people will, at the end of their time, will donate Things that they can't bring or they don't want to bring anymore, they don't use. And yeah, it's so— it's kind of like a rotating, um, supply of items. Kids' toys, like there have been times where when I move somewhere, I'll go to the thrift store on post and I'll just get toys for the hotel room. It's like, okay.

Great idea.

Um, books, you know, like things that it would be really expensive just to go out and buy retail, but I can go to the thrift store and buy a few toys and It makes a world of difference.

Well, and also, I'm thinking, like, when you're talking about living out of a suitcase for a month, because, I mean, I still can't even comprehend what you do. But when you say that, I'd be like, okay, well, then I'll pack my suitcase. I'll go to the thrift store. These are the 20 things I want to buy for the thrift store. 2 months later, my stuff comes. Now I'm going to go take that back to the thrift store. It's kind of like a lending library of household stuff.

Yeah. And there are also lending closets at certain posts. For soldiers or families, certain places will have a lending closet of like kitchen supplies or sometimes bedding supplies, things that, things that you can borrow for, for the interim.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, good.

Okay.

Well, there's a win there. So if you didn't know about that, go find that. And, you know, you and I were mentioning as we did this, like when you said tell them to put their do not pack list in the car. And then you had us go back and re-edit the workbook to say, and lock the car. You said, because I want new military spouses to know that. And you said there's a lot of this stuff that you learn as you go that you don't know in your first move.

Yeah, sure. I mean, there are just some really hard lessons, having your things stolen. That's like the last thing you want to do when you're trying to get somewhere new. And then you find out that something that's really dear to you has been broken or something that— it just feels really violating to have something of yours taken when you're in a vulnerable place or like in a sad place. So yeah, I definitely want spouses to watch out for themselves, to make those decisions for themselves and not be vulnerable.

Yeah, I think this thrift store would be a great place to find things that you need and also, you know, entertain your kids and stuff like that and maybe meet somebody in the thrift store. That's it.

Yeah, that's nice.

Which would be great.

Yeah.

Okay. So then after we get through all that, then we have these community, just page after page after page of all these proactive things you can be thinking about. Like find yourself a good coffee store, find yourself a good, you know, like what are you looking forward to when you first get there? And then the last thing we included was the just tell me what to do checklist.

Yeah, it just— there gets to be a point where there are so many decisions made every single day that, um, it's like your brain taps out and you just need somebody to tell you what to do. Like, you just need, okay, what do I do next? Okay, I need to do these few things today, and I need to make dinner, and I need to put the kids to bed, and we need to brush our teeth. You know, like basics. We're getting through the basics here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's once you get to the new station, because, I mean, you know, as you were talking and as we were creating this, there is— and this is why I say do this on the airplane. Like, even, even if you wait until you're on the airplane to start looking for the proactive community, I, I get the feeling and I understand that every minute that is left at the base that you're currently at, you want to spend with your friends and you don't want to be doing like a work So these are things you could do in transit that are kind of moving you from the one location to the other. And then when you get there, you look at the just tell me what to do list. You're like, oh my gosh, I'm like sleep, like go to sleep if you can. But also if you're like, I know I should be doing something, but I have no idea what to do. That's the last page of the workbook. Like check this list. Anything on here, do any of this.

Try it.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yep. Anything else you wanted to share about that before we go into what we're gonna do next?

Nope, let's keep rolling. Okay.

So as Elaine and I were creating this, it is a course. It is not a planning day. So when you come to Organize 365, you can get it in the shop. There is also going to be a way for you to get it at a discount as a military professional. We'll have that in a coffee chat. Next, but you could sign up. It's just a really quick form. You tell us where you're stationed, what branch of the military you're in, and what the soldier's rank is. You don't give us your military ID or anything, and then you will be unlocked for the military discount, and then you will do the PCS planning course. Remember, this will work for the State Department or anybody else who's in any of these kind of regularly deploying to places you have no idea where you're going type situations. But we have been talking a lot about community. And one of the things that Elaine and I really wanna do is, yeah, it's great to organize you for your move, but how can we also create more community, especially in light of the conversation I had with Corey last time? How can we kind of bring more of this community aspect to the military bases? And we have 2 options. One is to run this like a planning day. So it can be a virtual 4-hour planning day, just like we did the work in the home planning days, and it would be— a military base would sign up for it, they would buy licenses, and then I would schedule a live 4-hour planning day for that organization. The second option is I'll actually go to a 48-contiguous United States base. Very specific. I mean, I'll do international eventually, but not right now. So if there's a base within the 48 contiguous United States, I will go. And these will happen on Thursdays, and this will be a 6-hour live planning day on site. This will also include the PCS bundle. And in the PCS bundle, soldiers or their spouses, either one can come to the planning day, will get a portable Sunday basket. They'll get the pink, purple, blue, green slash pockets. They'll get a copy of The Paper Solution. They'll get the pink, purple, blue, green tabs so they can label their tabs while they're there. Trying to think if there's something else in that kit. So they'll, they'll show up on base, they'll get that kit, they'll get their workbook, and I'll be there for 6 hours and we'll actually go through the workbook together. And now it's a community building event. So we have the virtual community building event, but this is an in-person on-base community building event. And then also we'll have a 2-hour either Q&A or book signing or whatever, more like social event with me. some other time on that Thursday. And when I mentioned this idea to you, Elaine, you were so excited we were gonna add Organized 365 products to it. But also you mentioned that, you know, most bases— and then as you said it, I thought about where the bases I've been to are, and I was like, oh yeah, that's true. You're like, most bases are kinda like off the beaten path. Like, they're not like in the heart of the city or anything. And so having a community-based event on a base is like A big deal.

It's exciting. It's fun to have something like— it's energizing to have something fun to look forward to or something to get you out of the house. Um, I know I would have loved to have something like this at any of my duty stations. So I know that there's power and magic in getting people together and being able to share this really isolating thing, even though it's a shared isolating, isolating event or isolating experience. It's just so important to identify all of this invisible work that we do for ourselves and our spouses and our families. And we can do it together in community with other people who are going through the same thing. And whose burdens we absolutely understand. And I know that we will move and we can learn to do it better. Yeah.

And the on-base experience or the virtual planning day also includes the course. So whoever's going to that will also have the course because we probably won't get through every single thing when we're doing the live, and they'll be able to do those. But I— it's really, it's really a fun idea to be able to go and, and do these live. We've talked with Doug about, you know, how would the military be able to do this? And there are different funds for on-base activities and for family readiness activities and for PCSing activities. So if you are on a base and you would like to do this, either the virtual or the in-person, Elaine is our Organized 365 team member who will be facilitating those. Like I said, the on-base one will be on Thursdays. I have blocked out certain Thursdays for this year, 2025, that I could do them. And then the virtual ones will be on Mondays. You could do it in the morning or you could do it in the afternoon Eastern time for those, for those virtual ones. And just email military@organize365.com and Elaine will get back to you and give you more information about that. Anything else you wanted to share about that, Elaine?

I just know how hard it is to carry so much of the household responsibilities and how overwhelming it is to constantly be building your life again from the bottom up and all the tasks and all the components of moving again and again and how it gets harder and harder as the years go on. It doesn't get really that easy. Um, we have the tools, we have the framework, and let's support our heroes and their families.

Oh, I can't add anything to that. All I can say is thank you so much, Elaine, for your and Doug's service to our country. Thank you for all of you who are listening who are present or, um, future or past military members. Thank you so much for what you have given That we don't even realize that you've given to us. Your sacrifice is so valued, and I just thank you for that. And I look forward to introducing this course to everyone and hopefully being able to go on some bases and making an impact as well as building community.