what would you take in your shipment

[texmex]

What should i put in my shipment that is hard to find or grossly expensive there in Singapore?

We almost went to Brunei a couple years back, and were told to bring shower curtains and bath plugs...

[scoobydoo]

Try checking the archives also, there was quite a long thread about this a few months back that had lots of good info in it.  You can get most things here, the main issue to me was that its hard to know where to go, how to get there, find the time, etc to go running around after things when you are first setting up so I'd say bring as much as you can reasonably and replace it here as needed.  Try to keep in mind the amount of space you have here as compared to at home.  Condos aren't over large generally speaking.  If you will be in a landed house you'll have more room.  Good luck!

[Yankee Doodle]

Texmes - I assume you are a yank?  Here's what we missed and brought.

Large size tubs of Coffee.  You can't find 5+ pound ground coffee.  I still visit the US 4 times a year and each time I bring back 6 tubs.

Undergarments - If you are of normal US size 6 foot man, 5'8" female you will have trouble finding undergarments with room.  For me (a man) the thighs never work out.  Socks underpants shirts.  If you are 5'7 man and 5'2" woman no problem.  Same with kids.  My 11 y/o is not fat but he is stocky.  I do a Walmart trip every 4 months for underwear, t shirts and shorts.

Cool Clothes - I am down to 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of dockers.  You just don't wear long sleeve/pants clothes here.  Buy lot's of shorts.  I have 6 bathing suits and 50 pairs of shorts.

Crystal Lite - I drink zero cal drinks but get tired of diet coke.  I have a supply of 50 tubes of crystal lite teas.

Bathroom items - I pick up toothpaste, deoderant, razors, shaving creams etc in the US. Plenty of selection here but not our brands.

Meds - Over the counter cold meds, vitamins etc. etc.

Bed Linens - We were surprised at the various sizes here.  Queens are not queens, kings a re not kings, metrics etc. etc.  We bought an ample supply of bed linens for all out beds.

If you think your mattresses will be due before your assignment ends replace now.  Our mattress set was 12 years old and we replaced it just prior to leaving. Note - technically all your stuff should be older than 6 months to avoid tax but we didn't have a problem with this.

Alcohol - Wine is extremely expensive here.  You can import a certain amount (2 litres?) duty free but ignore that.  If you like red and whites get cases and declare it.  The duty works out to 5 bucks a bottle.  Contrast - A recent vintage Clifornia red that goes for USD$8 is likely USD$25+ here.

Almost everything you need is here.  Everything is imported and so more expensive.  Take advantage of your shipment if you have room to load up on dry goods.

And if you really like tex mex think about bringing along all the spices you are gonna need.  There is crap all Mexican restaurants here - ok one decent that I can think of - and coming from SoCal I really miss Mexican.  It's the first meal I eat when I get home and the last meal I eat before leaving.

I am sure I missed out a ton of stuff you could bring...

[expensive]

Some things you might want that are extremely expensive here:

Good mattresses - as someone else mentioned, if you think you want new ones, buy them before coming over and bring them with you

BBQ or grill -- gas or charcol grills are stupidly expensive here. If you're reasonably sure you'll want and you're reasonably sure you'll live in a house or at least a condo with a large balcony, bring one with you.

Exercise equipment -- if you think you'll have the space for it, treadmills, stationary bikes, stair-steppers, weights & the like are also stupidly expensive here

Cars are stupidly expensive here too, but unless you are a diplomat, you can't have a left-hand drive anyway, so nevermind.

I find women's swimsuits to be outrageously priced here and half the time they aren't even cut to fit 'western' bodies --- you know, women who have hips and boobs A word to the wise -- Lands End.com will ship here & they have good swimsuits for the whole family, IMO.

I would agree with the previous poster about underwear and clothes - be sure to come here with a full supply of underwear and summer wear for each member of your family so you don't have to run around trying to find stuff right away. Then you can take your time finding places you like.

I like Splenda & it is s l o w l y making it's way here, but I've yet to see it for sale in grocery stores, so I buy it in bulk in the US when I visit and bring it over.

I don't have trouble finding things like shampoo & toothpaste here, but I don't think I've ever found unscented gel deodorant here so that's another thing we buy when we're back in the US.