If you will be faced with a decision between moving home or staying put in the near future, check out this pro’s and con’s list.

Home Sweet Home, it is all about figuring out what is best for you.

Pro

Saving money: The most common pro of moving home during a deployment is saving money. Especially if you are raising a family, moving home can take away expenses like rent and utilities that would normally consume a large chunk of your budget. If you are struggling to make ends meet, moving home can give you a break while you form a more solid financial plan.

Con

You might not actually save money: Before you decide to move home to save money, make sure you won’t be wasting a lot in the process. Between contracted utilities, breaking leases and the general costs of moving itself, you don’t want to be spending more money moving home than you will save. Another place people get stuck when moving home is storage. Chances are you have furniture that you can’t or won’t want to sell before moving and you’ll have to pay to store those items while you’re away.

Pro

Support system: If you moved away due to a PCS or for the military in general, an emotional benefit of moving home may be spending time with your friends and family. The military lifestyle comes with a lot of moves and it can serve as a great mental break to spend 9 months in your hometown. It can be very nice to have the support of family and friends, many spouses especially like to live at home if they have children or during the first deployment.

Con

Missing the military community: On the opposite side of getting to spend time with your family, a con will be missing out on the true military experience. If you decide to move home to the familiar during a deployment you may miss out meeting some great people who have a lot in common with you as well as really getting to integrate yourself into the great and supportive military community.

Pro

Save for something specific: More specifically than just saving money on rent and utilities is being able to save your BAH in the hopes of making a large purchase in the future. Whether you’re looking to buy a car or use your VA benefits and purchase a home, you’ll be able to save up money and make more financially responsible decisions.

Con

School transitions for children: A military family considering moving back home should consider the task of taking your kids out of school. Although some may have children who aren’t old enough to be in school yet, transferring schools in the middle of the year or even during the summer knowing that you’ll return to base after deployment can make for a hard transition.

Pro

Help with children and childcare: Young military families especially may choose to move home in hopes that their family can help them raise children. New parents may feel overwhelmed taking care of a child alone, and parents and other family members can help guide you through the waters of new parenthood. Pregnancy is another main reason military spouses decide to move home during deployment.

Con

Losing your independence: Depending on how long it has been since you lived at home, you may want to consider the difficulties associated with feeling like you’ve lost your independence. If you’ve been living on your own, with a significant other or a spouse for a number of years it may come as a culture shock to experience life with your parents again.

Pro

Opportunity to pursue your education: If you’re hoping to earn a college degree over the next few years, moving home may present a perfect opportunity. The money saved from not paying for rent combined with the free time you may gain from having family help you raise children or help you out combine in a good environment to study.

Unfortunately there will be certain difficulties associated with deployment no matter where you decide to live. Create a pro’s and con’s list for your personal situation and create a practical plan of action that works best for you emotionally and financially.

Have you moved home during deployment in the past? Have you chosen to stay on base? Why?

Let us know in the comments!

 Photo thanks to jcbonbon via Flicker Creative Commons

Military couples may find it even tougher to stick it out seeing as deployments, trainings and permanent changes of station are constantly changing circumstances. But with some thoughtful planning and communication married couples can merge money matters without hassle and keep the financial honeymoon going.

When you are planning to get married make sure you and your spouse discuss these topics:

Budgeting and finances are major issues in marriage so start off on the right foot.

Budget

You both have expenses, fixed and flexible. The first step is to list them all separately to determine the costs you and your spouse are facing together. This is also the time to discuss overall attitudes towards finances. Things like how much money should be spent on different non-essential items should be outlined.

There are free websites such as Mint.com that provide various budgeting forms and tools to can help get you started when you are organizing your finances together for the first time.  Check out this post by Smart Military Money on how to use these online tools to make budgeting easier. Once you have a projected budget, you and your spouse can use it to compare your actual spending tracked over time.

Deciding to Combine Accounts

• Bank Account: Some couples combine bank accounts, some keep them split and some create a new joint account in addition to their own. It really depends on preference. Combining accounts allows couples to use the same bank source and have a common location. Also, if anything were to happen to you or your spouse, the right of survivorship will transfer ownership to the surviving member. Having multiple people on an account increases the need for constant communication because misunderstanding could lead to incorrect balances and/or overdrawn accounts. As long as there is ample communication and delegated balancing times, couples can easily overcome these obstacles.
• Insurance: Many couples compare their health care benefits and decide which would provide the most benefit if combined into a family plan. With the military, service members and family are offered TRICARE to cover health, dental and pharmaceutical benefits for active and retired members. Auto and homeowners insurance may also offer discounts if combined.
• Cell Phone: You and your spouse can save some money by switching to a family plan for your cell phone providers. In fact if you use your military discount on certain providers, you can save even more.

Delegating Responsibility

Now that pool expenses is under one roof, you’ll have to determine who will be responsible for making payments and performing tasks like grocery shopping. The tasks can be split evenly, given to one person or rotated throughout the year. Couples have found success with each method, so again it’s left to you and your spouse’s preference.

How will the bills get paid?

A specific note for military couples is to discuss having shared access to the responsibility. Spouses of military members should obtain a power of attorney, which will allow them to make financial decisions on behalf of their spouse if deployed or unable to access accounts. Finances are a very important thing to talk about before any deployment. Be sure to share account numbers, passwords and due dates.

For those couples who may face or are facing a deployment, check out Smart Military Money’s financial checklist for the soon-to-be-deployed

Tackling Debt

Debt is a problem for marriage, no matter who it originates with, since both credit scores can play into major purchases. The first step is disclosing the amount of debt each other is facing as well as the interest rates.

Set goals together for when you want each loan paid off and evaluate the plan with each other as months go by. Some couples choose to combine debts by paying the most toward the principal with the highest interest rate. That way, it can be paid off first and you two can tackle the less burdensome debts.

Stash Cash

A good habit for couples to get into is contributing extra cash or dedicating a certain percentage of pay to a savings account. It’s recommended that couples have three to six times their monthly expenses in savings for any emergencies or unexpected loss of income. Newlyweds probably don’t have such a stash on hand after a wedding, honeymoon and home purchase, but with commitment and patience, they can get there.

Photo thanks to RambergMediaImages and Brad_Chaffee via Flickr Creative Commons