What to bring when moving to Hawaii?
Mark from Santiago, Chile asks:
I’m considering moving to Oahu in a few years and would like to know what items should I definitely bring with me and what items I definitely do not need to bring (because it’s cheaper and / or easier to acquire them on the island than to ship them from the mainland). I’m referring to things like furniture, appliances, dishes, beds, cars, etc. Thanks guys!
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Peter,
As usual your advice is spot on. The information from other people’s perspectives and experience is VERY useful.
Having said that, my spouse and I have a somewhat different situation than most.
We already have a lot purchased on the big island. The long term ( say 8 years) plan is to have a custom
home built ( we are going to design it and do as much of the finish work as possible ourselves). So, we will
have a decent idea of what we can put in that space.
We live in South Florida, so the clothes and other things we own are already well suited to the climate
in Hawaii.
Too, we know when you own a single family home and have a yard you are responsible for doing
a lot of things which a condo dweller or someone in an HOA doesn’t have to worry about. Also I
take it to heart what you said about how long it can take sometimes to get things done, so why not have
what you need to “do it yourself” when possible?
Even so, we are not planning to bring (I estimate, anywhere from 2/3 to 80% of “our stuff”) when we do
make the move.
Large appliances and most all furniture is “out”. Given the lead time we have we are not planning to buy
anything new from this point on unless we absolutely must, or if we are sure it will be of value in Hawaii.
I am pretty sure we can fill a container with useful, mostly higher value stuff. Bikes, scuba gear, fishing
equipment, kitchenware, certain electronics, some things we have collected which we can’t simply
replace, and most especially tools€”all sorts of tools small and large for use inside and outside. The
problem with selling your stuff when you move is you rarely get more than a small fraction of what it
will take to replace them when you get to your destination. You get good quality stuff and take care of it,
it will often give you a lifetime of use.
We had planned to spend most of our 2 weeks in Hawaii last June doing mundane things like looking
at furniture and appliances as part of the future preparation. Of course that wasn’t possible. We will
make sure to do that as part of our next trip.
Sounds like a plan. Then you’ll need to take Dylan’s advice and fill a container.
Thanks for the video! I have done a lot of research figuring out the cheapest way to ship to Hawaii. USPS is pretty reasonable if you ship some boxes. I shipped 6 boxes, each 24″×18″×18″, each under 60#, they were about $120 each. I shipped a big box of books Media Mail (only books, dvds and cds are allowed as media mail), that was only $31. These boxes were mailed from East coast USA. Each box has to be less than 70#. I got myself a P.O. box in Honolulu and I’ll be getting to Oahu right when the boxes are scheduled to arrive. (There are restrictions on getting a p.o. box, you have to show intent of residencey.) The boxes are supposed to take 3 weeks each. The usps website has a shipping estimate calculator that will tell you how long things will take and how much they will cost. I bought heavy duty boxes at Home Depot and used an obscene amount of tape. So, for under $1000 I’m able to bring quite a bit of sentimental items and clothing. Not bringing any furniture, appliances, or breakables. Also the usps large flat rate boxes are a cheap way to send things but the boxes are small, they are great for small heavy items though!
Mahalo Tiva for sharing all these details!
My wife and I moved to Honolulu from PA one year ago, and we embraced the “minimalist” approach. We did ship one car, which was reasonable cost (but does take several weeks to get it). We considered a container, but the estimated cost for 2 rooms of furniture from PA was 11K. (You can buy a lot of new furniture for $11,000!) We each arrived with 2 suitcases of summer clothes as you noted. We rented for a year and now own a condo. We gradually have added furniture that fits our current space. It was helpful to us that my wife arrived first, and I stayed behind for some time to ship some boxes and sell or give away most of the rest. It was liberating.
Mahalo Scott for sharing!
Poor, poor, Peter!
Mark is shipping form Chile, NOT the US. You didn’t even bother to mention the correct country.
The coffee grinder is a different voltage, so using that as an example was incorrect.
Your advice is usually spot-on but now slipping?
This is why we have fabulous people like you reminding me that people are watching carefully. Mahalo! If you watch closely, you’ll notice that while Mark is from Chile, I’m not talking about what to bring from Chile. The only origin I do mention at 0:45 is “the US Mainland”. And my example of the coffee grinder is not to say that Mark should bring his coffee grinder, it’s to say that you shouldn’t bring any appliances. I so appreciate you watching and pointing these things out!