From another list
Some things people wish they had brought:

Batteries—of all types, particularly for items you are bringing
Bicycles
Binoculars
Butter knives
Cosmetics, favorites
Dishes (very expensive here)
Drill, cordless
Letter scale—because mail is very expensive
Moisture absorbent packets
Oven thermometer
Pressure cooker
Shop Vac
Silverware (very expensive here)
Stand mixer (so expensive here)
Teapot
Toiletries, favorites
Umbrella, really good wind-resistant one
Velcro tape, sticky back (to put up sheers instead of screens on windows, since screens are rare here)
Walking shoes—comfortable!
Wash cloths


Things they are particularly glad they brought:

Bidet toilet seat
Books
Ceiling fans, good quality 220 V with some style (if you ship a container)
Clips—the pinchy ones to close bags
Clothing that fits properly, winter stuff, particularly if you are large (L.L. Bean)
Computer (very expensive here)
Computer extra batteries
Converters; 220v to 110 V for appliances
Cookware: good quality non-stick pans, large pots
Crock Pot,
Dual (inside/outside) Thermometer
Furniture;
Grill; BBQ
Kitchen utensils: good quality
Lamps—US lamps can work here with 220 bulbs
MagicJack Plus (allows free telephone calls to the USA & Canada, cheap calls worldwide for about US $ 20 per year)
Mailers—Jiffy sacks
Material & sewing notions—to sew what you want Good thread
Mattress: (particularly important if you need something special)
Notebook Computer (very expensive here)
Phones, cordless with replacement batteries
Pleater tape & hooks—to sew your own draperies
Power strips
Printer & Ink refills
Rotary clothes line
Scissors
Sewing machine,
Smartphone (very expensive here)
Soaps, good smelling ones that double as sachets for your closet or drawers
Window coverings, custom (can be very expensive here

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It also depends where you plan to live city versus country, house versus apartment etc.

We brought everything and have not had to buy much here. Many things are available but it takes work to find and they may be pricy. Somethings I have not seen include a garden cart, a yard composter, a push lawn mower, a battery whipper snapper, a rotary clothes line, a good ash bucket ,crock pots, many hobby items - I brought my spinning wheel, wool carder, rug hooking frame, beading equipment.

Rugs tend to be thin and low quality and vacuum cleaners are similarly lightweight. I have not seen a home carpet shampooer here even the little pet vac types.

Living room furniture tends to be lower quality with low density foam which quickly bottoms out. We paid over $1200 US for a loveseat a couple of years ago and it is not wearing that well.

The problem with a lot of N. American furniture is that it is too big for the smaller Uruguayan rooms.

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Be very careful. There are those who will take advantage of you. I had a woman request a few items but ordered a lot of stuff and hers got loaded on my container and not enough room for my stuff. I had to leave a lot behind, but this woman who only wanted one or two boxes actually had a great deal more so limit people. You can give them x number of square feet and nothing more.




Be strict about it. When are you leaving and do you know what port your container will go through? Mine went through Long Beach, Calif where it was seized by US customs, searched, stuff taken, demanded a $2000 fee to allow my container to move on, got lost then found in Buenos Aires where it sat for weeks. Customs have very sticky fingers. I hope you are using Uruvan here. They are top notch. Good luck and make sure your things are loaded first.

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I agree with pjanteres. Be careful who you tell about this. If you offer up space in your container to bring things for people as a sort of good deed, word will spread like wild fire and people you've never heard of will just start mailing you things. You give an inch and they take a mile.

As for what to bring, the list is limitless. Here's what we learned:

I wish we had replaced all our mattresses in the US. Mattress sets here of any quality have unholy prices.

Load up on sheets and towels.

I brought a lot of tools, good idea.

I brought a lot of computer equipment, also a good idea.

High quality pots and pans are expensive or unavailable here, especially if you're trying to avoid aluminum and teflon. You'll be doing a lot more from-scratch cooking, so get good knives and utensils.

If you plan to have a house instead of an apartment, get a good wood burning stove. I've heard the non-EPA rated stoves are better.

If you like to grill, bring a good grill. Propane is ok. You cut off the regulator and attach a different regulator here that matches the tanks. You don't have to change the orifice.

If you do a lot of laundry, bring a good washer and dryer. Get a 120 volt washer and run it through a voltage converter. Get a gas dryer and have it converted to supergas here. You do have to have it converted. I know who can do this. Don't bring a 220 volt dryer or oven/stove.

Bring a nice gas oven/stove.

Toilet seats are cheap and ridiculously over-priced here. Stop by home depot and get a couple good ones.

Load up on vitamins. Even if you don't take them, expats will be certain to buy them from you.

Heirloom seeds

I could go on and on.

brian

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oh, and I almost forgot!

Be sure to bring 1000s of Russel Stover Chocolate Covered Easter bunnies!

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Hi there!
Bring absolutely everything you can. You can get many things here that you would get in the States but you will pay 10 times more. I brought a full high queue 40 feet container and still not enough for everything. I wish I had brought my washing machine and my dryer but didn't have room. Now I'm using one bought here and hate it... I always say: "I wish I had brought mine"... Then another thing I will encourage you to bring is: The Lazy Boy couches", another thing didn't fit in my container, I only brought one and got broken during the trip. I didn't pay for container warranty,( my fault....) nobody paid for it and had to dump it.
The couches I have seen here are extremely expensive and never the Lazy Boy quality. I brought my truck, but that is kinda hassle because the gas here is very pricy and the taxes are high, hopefully next year I will be able to sell it and buy something smaller and cheaper to maintain. You can bring supplements and all the tools you can think of...

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Oops.... I forgot, Levis worth about U$S 100 a pair here.

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Wengin,

You must be a returning Uruguayan if you brought a vehicle? I know another who brought an expensive SUV and then could not afford the high costs and could not sell it for X number of years so it just sat in his driveway. He finally sold it to a farmer who did not plan to take it off the farm.

I bought Ariston and LG appliances here and have been very happy with them, My Ariston washer is way better than my Magtag up north in terms of cleaning, and spinning dry.It also uses much less water. Same goes for my Ariston dishwasher. Very quiet and does an excellent job.

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Crazyfarmer: Ref the chocolate covered bunnies. Don't encourage people as they don't know the tale behind the bunnies. I do & so I may just have to call you and chew you out. Everyone, never ever bring chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies for anyone. DON'T DO IT!

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If you 'stock' your shipping container with your appliances, washing machine, etc, keep in mind that repairs will be difficult. When you buy local, locals can repair them. If you bring your appliances in, then the issue will be parts and who can you get to repair them. We have found that buying local with a warranty prevented many headaches. Whereas trying to repair our US items created headaches!

If I had to stock my shipping container, I would bring bicycles and mopeds and sell them :-) Will you have a parilla and want outside deck-type furniture? If it is worth bringing it in, make sure it is high quality. Poor quality you can buy here at high quality prices. When is your container being shipped?

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00abuse

Someone said: '1000s of Russel Stover Chocolate Covered Easter bunnies?' Good heavens, why?

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00abuse

It was a joke. It would take a bit of time and ink to explain but never ever promise to bring anyone bunnies.

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The company we used would not allow any food in it, not even dry goods, cans etc. They also had a long list of hazardous products they would not allow. It also had to be packed by them in order to ship through them.

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I meant to add that Uruguay does not expect you to resell items from your container so if quantities of individual items look more than would be appropriate are in it, they may not be happy.

We were told all items should be used. The container is X rayed in port before being released.

Commercial sellers in Uruguay have forced the government to limit parcels of goods into the country tax free to five a year valued at under $200 US per adult and only using an overseas credit card issued to that person as official sellers here are upset at the amount of products coming in that are undercutting their prices.

Also, you know about the bond you have to post or the insurance you have to buy for the value of the duty on your container?

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It's true that parts can be an issue for any appliance that you bring here. But that is also true for appliances you buy here. Often times, the manufacturers go out of business. Or they stock the appliances, but not the parts. You may buy a refrigerator for example only to discover that it dies 6 months later from a logic board failure, and the only way to fix it is to import a new logic board from Italy at a price higher than what you paid for the fridge.

This exact situation is happening now to some friends of ours. it was cheaper to buy the logic board in the US and have someone bring it down. When they got it here, they discovered that it was actually something else that was broken. :-/ This was for a high end fridge.

We know a Uruguayan in Las Piedras who fixes appliances. He speaks english pretty well. One of the things he does is tear out the electronics from these new-fangled fridges and replace them with more mechanical pumps and thermostats. They're more reliable and cheaper to maintain. But the pretty lights on the outside don't work anymore.

Our current fridge is dying. It's I think our third fridge in three years. Not sure what's wrong. But if he suggests his mechanical fix this time, we might take him up on it.

For parts and service, you could go with James. They're not any more reliable. But their service is better assuming you're in Montevideo. On one occasion though, they picked up a washing machine from us, fixed it, then wouldn't bring it back. We had to arrange our own fletes. Also, my daughter recently bought a washing machine from James that was broken on arrival. They lived about 1 mile outside of their service zone, so refused to come out to fix it.

If you're a single person or a couple, maybe with 1 child, the appliances here might last you a couple-three years. If you have a larger family, expect to replace appliances every six months, or worse. We have a stick blender that died on the second use. Luckily we "bought" that one with geant points.

In three years, we'had:

3, soon to be 4 fridges
3 stove/ovens
3 water heaters
3 washing machines
2 dryers

brian

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About the bond...

If you own property here that's high enough value, you can get an insurance policy from the state insurance bank instead of paying the bond in cash. For us, the bond was about $14,000 for a 40 foot high cube. I'm sure it's more now. But the insurance was about $300 a year.

A certain high powered law firm neglected to tell us this even though they handled the purchase of our property. :-/

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We bought most of our appliances in 2012. Apart from one issue with my washer which was fixed under warranty I haven't had any problems with anything here.

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