anything you wish you hadn't gotten rid of?

do spouses count?

more of the dark green hard plastic adirondack chairs from menards, the 4 we have have held up great over the years

LOL at Lip.

I wish I'd brought more towels & beach towels. With places like TJMaxx & Marshall's you can get better quality for less money up there. Now ebay helps as does other online shopping but it's still nice to physically see stuff before buying. Same goes for bed linens if you know the size of the bed you'll have. I'm fussy about high thread count all cotton sheets.

What I did bring back on a trip to the States after moving here were my good kitchen knives & pots & pans. Lots of rental places have junky kitchenware. You could have somebody mail you that though. Depending on the time of year you're coming, you can also find more clothing bargains up there than here with end of season sales. Stock up on shorts, sandals, etc.

I like Trades answer! All of the above mentioned is a lot less expensive up there and better quality! Another words, we pay more for a lesser quality here! (if you can even find it, remember all we really have is K-mart)!

I would say anything you KNOW you will need, keep and send! I moved down with just a suite case of clothes and even that didn't make it in upon my arrival! LOL! I wore black slacks and a sweater and had nothing else to wear! Have a change of clothes in your carry on!
I slowly brought more things back with each visit up to see family and then what I had left over, I had my family sell in the annual family rummage sale!

Thank you for the feedback! It's hard deciding what is worth paying to ship and what we should get rid of!!

I wouold buy all the summer clothing you can get your hands on. I thought I bought too much but I now realize I should have bought more. Alot of places don't have A/C so I find myself changing clothes more often. PLus if you use a clothesline to dry your clothes,you'll need back up considering it takes MUCH longer to dry. Also- high thread count sheets(very expensive here) and xtra beach towels are handy. I bought 400 thread count sheets in the states for $50. It's at least $80 here-depending on the size.

Another tip, once you are here..... If you see it and want it, (or need it), buy it NOW! It more than likely won't be there when you go back to buy it! lol! A part of Island life! 🙂

To add to Sherri's note: BUY ALL OF THEM (or at least 3 or 4 of them) b/c, as mentioned, it may not return or it may take months before new stock comes in.

I had an old crosby toaster, that made toast perfect every time. Today all the toaster's I've purchased have to be adusted every time I use them. So if you have a toaster that works great, bring it with you!

Lip - lol. I don't often hear of people who wish they had brought their ex-es with them. And lots of couples who split up here wind up with one of them leaving island. Just not enough space for both of them more often than not.

Things to bring... This time of year, it would also have been good if I had brought more of the Xmas decorations that had collected over many years. We just bought about a hundred strings of lights to decorate the sailboat for the parade and I left more than that in storage on the mainland that we could have put to good use if they were here. They would have been much cheaper to ship than to replace.

If you have a camp stove and lanterns, bring them. You likely won't camp a whole lot here (if ever), but power outages make them very handy to have around. Flashlights, too.

Anything you have that pertains to water sports or beach activities is worth bringing along. I gave away a bunch of folding captain's chairs and wished I had brought them as soon as we got here. Leave the cold weather gear, ski gear, etc. with family if they have room to store it for you. You'll need it now and then if you visit the mainland during the winter and won't want to buy new stuff for short-term use; but it doesn't do well in storage here.

Any small articles that you use in daily life you should keep and bring along if it's cheaper to ship it than to replace it. It's usually not worth shipping large furniture items. Pack electronics carefully or you'll pay to ship things that will not work when they get here.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs are cheaper to buy in bulk on the mainland and are useful in reducing your power bill here. Buy the highest power of surge protectors you can find and bring a bunch of them. Costco usually has great deals on these. Get a battery back-up device for your computer to give you 20 minutes or so to save your work and shut your computer down without it crashing when power outages occur.

It's hard to find a good vacuum cleaner here.

If you come down and arrange a rental property and then go back to pack... some people tend to leave things behind that are provided in their new rental. Their next rental may not have the same things provided or a landlord may not replace something that wears out or breaks and pretty soon you wish you had your own stuff back. You have to draw the line somewhere on what all you bring and most people bring too much or too little. C'est la vie.

I usually agree with Alexandra's posts. I, however, would not bother with camp stoves, vacuum cleaners, etc. It is all available here. It may indeed cost a little more, if and when you need it (lots of people get by fine with a broom), but you may never need it. I've bought a couple of shop vac's, at Ace or Home Depot, and while they are not pretty, they are the best vac's ever. You will be picking up sand, bugs, maybe a little storm water. The power does go out, but usually for an hour or so. I recommend looking at Kmart for a gas grill with a side burner, and if you're here at the beginning of hurricane season, maybe pick up a second tank. I buy the energy efficient "pig-tail" light bulbs in 8 or 12 packs (something like that) for about $2.50 per bulb. I imagine they are indeed worth pricing in the states.

After living here for a number of years, I find that when I go "back", I love to go to the stores and look at new stuff, particularly the groceries, and I am in total awe of the prices ( and the freshness ).

I could go on forever on this subject, but if you have room, bring it, but don't stress about having to leave it behind, if you don't. You can survive without it, and if not, you will figure out a way to get it here or find a substitute. I apologize for going a little askew of the original question. Yes, there were things I wish I had not gotten rid of, and every once in a while I might still wish I had "whatever", but honestly, I can't think of what it would be.

are you doing a 20foot or 40foot container or just piecemeal stuff, that makes a difference on what or what not to bring

We're not shipping a container ... we're going to rent when we get to STX and since so many of the places are furnished or partially furnished we don't want to ship all of our stuff down. Besides, most of our furniture isn't worth the cost of shipping.

I think in addition to clothes we're bringing lots of sandals, swimsuits, towels, kitchen supplies, and office supplies. I'm having trouble trying to narrow down the decorative stuff (candles, picture, etc) to bring or store or donate.

First thing that came to my mind was to have my sailboat that I sold (and lived aboard) so I could be totally out of debt. Rental property is very high here to maintain a decent standard of comfort, quality, peace, etc. Granted there are not many places to moor a yacht. I still wish I had it.

I totally agree on the high quality sheets and pots and pans. I am so glad I mailed that stuff to my self. I recommend you review the usefulness of every item you touch in the course of a few weeks. Is it something you need to have or not? Can you live without it? You need much less than you think. Once you are here, give it a few months, you will know by then whether or not you will like being here long term. Moving here is an experience I would not trade. Lose any preconceived idea you have about paradise. Paradise is a state of mind (attitude), not a place.

Coolers and insulated bags - that is what I would have brought more of. They are expensive here. I would have stored stuff in them (candles and flashlights would have been a good idea) and had them shipped.

What I would have left behind - the leather purses I brought. They are in a closet, all fuzzy now.