Pros/Cons and any advice from people have done it and reasons why it was a good or bad decision!! Thanks in advance 

I can see both sides of the coin....you can save up your BAH if you live with parents...but personally, I like my own space and having my own home...so I chose to stay. 

Well I want to get a small place just for the kids and I becasue i also like to have my own space but the cost of living is so low in texas that i still feel i will be able to save some money. Where here we couldnt save much during deployment but we wouldnt have to deal with the stress of moving across the country in less than 9 months 

we stayed home for one and this one coming up we will stay here. It might be worth it to go home if you have a cheap/free place to stay where you wont loose your mind (and not loosing your mind is important!) you can save alot of money that way and it's nice to be around friends/family. In some ways though i found it more stressfull then just being here would have been. lol. 

thats where im confused too dont know which would be the best route to take so just looking for a little advice 

I did it last deployment...WA to OK(so almost like TX because of distance and cost of living). I am glad I did it, but I will not do it for the next deployment. I will just visit "home" a couple times and call it good. It's much cheaper and less hassle that way.

Pros:
Got to be around family
Got to reconnect with friends
Had extra help with the kids
Didn't go crazy
Had a very happy year in spite of hubby being gone

Cons:
Didn't actually save that much with BAH and groceries due to the cost of moving(I lived with my dad half the time and then got an apt for the other half because the kids and I were going nuts with space issues).
Had to put stuff in storage
Had to get stuff out of storage by myself before hubby got back.
Moving sucks balls.
Moving with kids sucks balls even more.
Moving that distance is more expensive than you think it will be. 

Moving sucks balls.
Moving with kids sucks balls even more.
HAAAA!!! This made might night becasue it sound like something I would say! I just figure my kids arent in school yet and next deployment they both will be so this is my last chance to go home for a depolyment 

I did it and it has officially become the WORST decision of my life! 

I have a similar question, kind of. My husbands contract is up next June and he is probably getting deployed in October. How close to ETS will they move us home? It would be kind of awesome if the answer was October, lol. Sorry for thread jacking. 

I moved home our last deployment. I would never do it again. Yes I was able to save money but I spent most moving back. I didn't even up up staying as long as planned because my parents were driving me crazy. If you live on post you have to give up your house and wait to move back on post. If you put your stuff in storage you have to do it yourself but movers moved me back on post. It's really a pain. 

i did it. there was no way i was staying where we were. i mean, i loved the city and do miss that... but i just had no attachment or friends there. we hadnt been there long before he left. i had no desire to be there without my only adult friend.

moving back allowed my daughter and i to be with the *other* people we love. i also was able figure a few things out for when we move back after his contract is up. things like which city in that area i want to live in, i got her into a dance school so she will be familiar with that when we go back, found the school i want to put her in so know what neighborhood to look for a place, got her started with an awesome pediatric dentist and she was able to continue seeing her regular doctor from our pre-army days.

only you can decide what is best. some people call it being weak. i think being weak is worrying about what other people will think and trying to pretend staying back makes you stronger. i am a very strong and independent person. where i live doesnt change that.

in the end, it turned out being for the best. my husband was injured and sent back to the states shortly after deploying. they changed his duty station to be closer to family since we werent there anymore. :)

we definitely wouldnt have been happy if he had to finish out his contract with the a-holes at his last duty station. 

I won't do it. Too much trouble, and money.

I would rather just suck it up and save the money. I signed up for this, I deal with it. 

We stayed there during 2 deployments. I was careful with money and was able to save a lot without moving home. If you need the support, moving home is a great choice. I see benefits of both.

Make a list of pros/ cons and weigh them for yourself. Moving and putting items in storage is a hassle too. Jpsso doesn't help with that for deployments, so you will be responsible for costs.

It is a personal choice and everyone is different. Do what feels best to you :-) 

I was always againest it because its only 9 months now, and I dont feel if you have kids its good to have their dad gone or mom, and moving back and fourth.... But at the same time if your kids (mine dont do well) adjust great or are older then go for it, and save up the $$$$ !



This time around were at Drum, and I plan on moving back to his home of Ohio and staying with his grandma, #1, is hes getting out in a year..

And if he changes his mind, its still a good option. ITs close to Drum, and our rent when lease ends goes up and over our bah =( and were not paying that. 

also, yes its true JPPSO doesnt help unless its written into your husband deployment orders.

in our case since hes getting out and hes being sent back early from deployment.

were putting 99% of our stuff in storage which is only 50 bucks a month. We dont have a ton so its to easy to move without a truck to rent and so on. 

Never would have been worth it through any of my husband's deployments or even his tour to Korea. Always stayed in the home we made together. But like was mentioned, only you can know what's best for you and your kids. 

I prefer to stay put in my own house that having to live in 1 bedroom only in my parents house. I think it will be more of a hassle. I did think on going to visit or do an extended visit of 1 month or so but not to move there w them. I have a friend who moved back home w her parents while her husband was re-traiining and her son was 14 months at the time when they went back to their house the little boy didn't wanted to sleep in his room, wasn't eating right and had a lot of behavior issues that were caused directly from the moving thing. She learned and said never again lol I guess you have to make your mind into what you think is better. 

I haven't read through all of the comments, but I believe it's a personal choice catered to every family's personal needs. I was already living with my parents during my husband's 1st deployment (he was stationed in Germany, and for reasons I won't get into right now, I was unable to join him), so naturally I stayed with my parents. Prior to his 2nd deployment, my father passed on. I made a last minute decision to be with my mom and siblings during the deployment because I knew with my father having died, we'd all need each other. At the time, being together drove us bananas, but I still think it was a healing we all needed to do together.

Now, during my husband's 3rd, I feel very liberated and free to have my own home, my own responsibilities, my own schedule, my OWN cleaning, instead of catering to anyone else's. I've left the invitation open to any of my family and friends to come and visit me, but no one is willing to make the sacrifice yet. It's whatever. Lol. I just can't afford to drop my life now to go and have a vacation somewhere else, footing the bill. Growing up is a pain in you-know-what sometimes. Lol 

First deployment, we weren't married- I lived in the dorms and with my parents.

Second deployment- I moved back home in order to save money. Home is 4.5 hours away, so the majority of our stuff was stored in my IL's garage along with one of our cars. We didn't have a lot to begin with either. I was able to go back to my old job and bring in extra money as well. We were able to pay off a personal loan, car loan, a few credit cards, and a student loan. I don't regret it, but I definitely don't think I could live with my parents ever again lol.

Korea- I moved in with my ILs. I have a fantastic relationship with them and I don't regret it one bit. I have a babysitting gig 4 days a week which I am using every penny of it to buy his plane ticket home for his mid-tour and for fun things to do when he is home. While we do have stuff in storage (less than $100 a month), we have paid off a personal loan and a credit card. Now we are working on building our savings. I contribute around the house whenever/wherever needed. My ILs live 2 hours from JBLM. Would I live with them again? I probably could.

I don't consider myself a weak person or someone that just has to go home because I can't handle him being away. I didn't hold a job while we were at JBLM, we don't have kids, we didn't own a home, I don't really have any friends there other than my BFF who lived almost an hour away.. Nothing kept me there..

If we move across the country and he deploys, I probably won't move back home since the tour will most likely be 9 months.

You have to do what's best for you and your family. Sorry for the novel ;) 

I don't think you are weak at all. If I had a place to go and if my parents were not money hungry I would do it. But my parents would be more stress. I also have six boys and it is too much work. We are established here and it is just too hard. But if you have a place to go and it works for you go for it. good luck

Do what is best for you!! 

I am so glad that someone asked this question. My fiancee is going to Korea. I am a little puzzled because they are paying for him to "technically" move our son to the east coast. They are actually paying enough for us to take our time getting there (2-3 weeks) and to get both vehicles back to the east coast. They are also paying for storage. He is getting paid as if it is a regular PCS move, however, they are going to pay housing at the Fort Benning rate because that is where our son will reside. We are going to live with his Mom who lives alone. Personally, the move from WA to GA is worth it because they are paying for it. We are saving over $2100 a month on housing and utilities alone, plus $500-600 a month on gas for him traveling back and forth to post. Additionally, the move will allow me to work full-time in my profession and save an additional $1400/month in childcare. I don't know why it's so expensive to live here, but I don't plan to return. I would really like to comfortably purchase a home when he returns and we are married. Hopefully the next duty station will be his last one before retirement and it will be somewhere that we both enjoy! 

They're paying for it because Korea is not a deployment, it's an unaccompanied tour. My hubby is not in Korea but he went to Qatar unaccompanied and we had the option of a paid relocation when he left.

Moving home during a deployment is a personal choice, like others have said. Personally I like my own space and since the Army doesn't pay for your move either way for a deployment I would imagine most of whatever money you're able to save would get used to move back. But you have to do what's right for you. 

i dunno... guess its different for me. i dont see this as "the home we made." i see it as our army issued living quarters. sure, we put our things in it and made it our own... but its not the place we chose to live because we absolutely loved it.

for me, "home" is where our loved ones are.

i always told my parents (when i was younger) that i wouldnt move out until i was at least 40. i didnt follow through though. :oP we have been in & out of that house for a few years. my mom had 5 kids so being without any is lonely for her.

my daughter loves staying with grammy and papa & always asks when we can move back with them. they keep our rooms for us so she has her own place when we are there. she has more room to play, yell and just be a kid at their house. it makes life easier for me when i can send her outside alone and not worry about it.

i dont think it makes me any less of an adult. i took on adult responsibilities when i was a child. i still have my normal responsibilities when im there. i still go about my life. i still pay bills and help my parents with their bills. the only difference is, i have the option of taking my mom shopping with me or to watch my daughter in her dance classes. i get to take her to her cousins birthday parties and we get to spend holidays with the people we love, without having to travel. plus, i like being able to see my parents and know they are safe. sure, it can get frustrating but i like having people to take care of. its what i know.

...and it takes my mind off of other things. 

I would move home if I could, but I would also rent my own place and take everything with me, haha. Even if I had to get my mom to watch my kids so I could get a job to cover the expenses, it would so be worth it.