Moving to Hawaii, What do you wish you Brought with you from the Mainland? What are You Glad You Took with You? :) (sale, how much)

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

Question: How do you plan on transporting/shipping what you bring over?

How are you bringing over your household items?
Professional moving company? Renting a container? Freight consolidation? UPS/FedEx? etc.

[kaileio]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

How are you bringing over your household items?
Professional moving company? Renting a container? Freight consolidation? UPS/FedEx? etc.

I am really trying to downsize. We are currently in a 5000 square foot home here on the mainland.

I was hoping to bring as little as possible with me. Clothes, Electronics, My Rice Cooker, My Favorite Hair Products & Sandals! I am really trying to decide what I can live without on Kona.
I hope to buy furniture once I am there, but I would consider a furnished home, and I will ship my car over (empty unfortunately, thanks for the advice!).
I will likely be flying back and forth every month or so, so I am just trying to pack suitcases and prioritize them so I can just take them with me 2 or 3 or 4 at a time until I have what I need over there.
I may also ship a few boxes USPS, but other than that, I truly am ready to start over in Hawaii renting or buying a 3 to 5 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood and just enjoy life without all of the stress of "stuff" I have collected over the past 40 years.
It is just my husband and I...

THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF THESE GREAT RESPONSES!!!
-Kai

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by kaileio

What you would have brought with you from the Mainland that is expensive or difficult to replace in Hawaii.

Well, given those new details in the post above this one, and looking back to your original question, I'll toss in that most everything necessary in life is available here in Hawaii. Or can be ordered online. Or bought at at a garage sale. Or brought over during your upcoming flights in a suitcase. Necessities to bring would include clothes, medications, legal documents (birth cert, marriage certs, etc), eyeglasses, checks/charge cards, and your address book including important phone numbers (doctors/banks/insurance, etc).

[HiloDiver]

Great thread as we are getting ready to move from the Caribbean to HI in a few months.

Our move would be outrageously expensive if we brought much because first our belongings have to get OFF an island via container, then shipped from Miami to LA, then to Hawaii.

After much soul-searching, we decided that it's all just "STUFF." My spouse went from wanting to get a 20' container to deciding we could fly over with three suitcases each and use the post office to mail a few other things and that's it. Valuables like legal papers, cameras, laptops, and dive gear can fly with us, as well as some clothes (dress codes being pretty much the same here as HI).

I moved here from Florida last year and despite getting my entire life, 30 years in Florida, down to four pallets, a Miata and a kayak, I realize I brought WAY too much. I could have gotten by with half the amount of stuff and probably should not have brought the Miata. The kayak was worth it, thought. But not to send to HI, would cost as much as what it's worth.

So we are selling the Miata, but we realize it's worth the cost to ship our big 4WD truck. Between the two container ship trips and the overland journey, it will be quite some time before we even get to see it.

We've pretty much locked down a furnished home to rent. We're only now going through things and starting to pack, but we know we can buy towels and dishes and stuff when we get there. Cheap appliances like toasters and blenders can be bought there; expensive ones like my Champion Juicer are worth shipping.

My spouse thought he'd keep and ship his books (that he never reads and have lots of dust!) and I told him we can re-buy anything he really wants through Alibris.com or Half.com for a buck plus media mail shipping. That convinced him, lol.

Despite how well we've thought this out, we'll still take more advice, mahalo to the original poster for starting this thread.

[HiloDiver]

One more thing that I almost forgot...something I do here frequently, in fact (if you think it's hard to obtain things in Hawaii, try living on our island, lol!!!) is to have friends in the states buy stuff and send it to us flat rate priority mail. Sometimes online vendors don't want to ship to USVI at ALL, or they won't ship things like flea/tick meds, so I'll have them free ship to friends who re-pack into flat rate priority boxes and send along for us. I'm sure this technique would work in HI as well.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

One more thing that I almost forgot...something I do here frequently, in fact (if you think it's hard to obtain things in Hawaii, try living on our island, lol!!!) is to have friends in the states buy stuff and send it to us flat rate priority mail. Sometimes online vendors don't want to ship to USVI at ALL, or they won't ship things like flea/tick meds, so I'll have them free ship to friends who re-pack into flat rate priority boxes and send along for us. I'm sure this technique would work in HI as well.

In Alaska we use a freight forwarder. Basically, setup an acct with the barge company and ship to "you" C/O their address.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

My spouse thought he'd keep and ship his books (that he never reads and have lots of dust!) and I told him we can re-buy anything he really wants through Alibris.com or Half.com for a buck plus media mail shipping.

This varies a bit, depending on exactly where you will be, but where I live books don't do so well. The dampness, the mold and mildew... anything paper is going to be under attack in areas like Puna.

[HiloDiver]

Thanks, we think it's going to be just about as humid and damp as where we live in the Virgin Islands. Still, books are cheap through Alibris so if a book does become unreadable we can buy another. We don't read novels, I'm talking about reference books (he's a captain).

[FallenIntoGreatness]

The book moving has been under discussion here too. I am encouraging/pitching digital media, as in a kindle or other e-reader to my fiance who has amassed a good sized library. In your case, it might be an option I've see lots of tech, reference, etc. books in addition to fiction/casual reading being offered that way. Very easy to move and not affected by humid/damp conditions, or lava for that matter; you can always download it again.

[HiloDiver]

Thanks, we already have it under control.