Paying bills to the Mainland

Kathy,
It depends on a few variables - east coast (when not under water from hurricanes) add just a day or two but west coast can take up to three or four depending on how it is routed. Best bet is the $3.85 Priority three day - it gets there pretty well on time except at holidays ....
Pamela.

Thank you so much, Pamela -- that is great !!! Thank you for answering my question. K

Kathy,

See if the storage company offers the option of direct debits from your checking account or can bill it to a credit card each month. That way the payment would automatically be made on a specific date and all you need to do is remember to write it down in your check book each month. We've set this up for things like our mortgage, cell phone bill, etc. and it takes a whole lot of stress off of you.

HC

Kathy,
HC has a good idea. We had some stuff in storage in the States. They charged my credit card. I pay the balance on my credit card twice a month via the computer, so I didn't get any interest charges. A couple of months ago we cured the storage problem. We shipped the rest of our stuff here.

Ric

Thank you Ric and HipCrip -- that makes a lot more sense and completely takes the stress out of it -- Ric, how much was it to ship "the rest of your stuff" over? I refuse to pay $4,000 for 12 pieces of furniture to be shipped. I can rebuy over there (I hope). Money will be tight as you all well know how that is but I really would like at least one item from my house to smile about. But hey, saving money is the key here. Thank you all for helping me out so much -- can't wait to meet you all. Oh -- forget to tell ya'll -- lol - but I'm a huge fan of bars lol -- I love and live for "cocktail hour"!!!!!!

Kathy you and I are fans of the same team - The Happy Hour Hitters. What Janelle and I did was sell everything, and I mean everything. We had 21 boxes coming down here, and we lived in a 4 bedroom house back home. Took all the money from the furniture we spent and used it getting setup down here. If you think about if from a financial perspective, rather than sentimental, it makes no sense to ship a couch you can get $400 for at a yard sale down here because it will cost $200 to get it down here, and now you have a $600 couch.

Although....... I think there is some benefit of not having to run around looking for furniture you like. Kind of a catch 22. You will have some many other things to do when you get down here that it will be nice not having to worry about furniture.

PLUS you will have already spent the money on shipping, so you won't have to steal from your furniture purchasing budget to pay your bills in order to survive. YOu might be broke but at least you will have furniture.

So basically I have no idea where I stand. I guess take some stuff you will REALLY REALLY need and use. The worst feeling is shipping something and saying "What the hell am I going to do with this?"

Its also nice starting fresh with all new everything. Starting a new life on a clean slate so to speak. Upholstered couches will get mildewy quickly which is why everything is rattan, wicker, or bananna leaf.

Jeez I'm all over the place. I wish I had put this much thought into my own packing. LOL

~Laughing , nodding and pointing up at Stu's post~

What he said, with particular emphasis on the wish that we had spent as much effort downsizing and packing as I do on posting here!

We didn't do as much weeding out as I wished due to time crunches, but did sell all of our furniture before moving. Believe it or not, boxes shipped through a moving company are more expensive than a load of furniture that takes up the same amount of cubic space because the boxes are all solid and the furniture has many open areas in and between individual pieces.

We have only bought the basic furniture (bedroom set, two desks, and two rattan chairs)and unpacked the items we need to get by (read: all things kitchen, our computers, a TV, DVD player, boom box, and a few DVDs and CDs) until after all of the remodeling on our house is finished. After living with just these few items for almost four months, I discovered that I really don't care if I ever unpack any of the piles of boxes that are stashed aside -- except for the art work I brought, which is what makes a space mine. Sure, it would be nice to pul out our candle making supplies, and there are a few knick nacks that are nice to see, but the fact is I know now that I really don't need them.

Stu's advice does it for me: try to weed with your head, not with your heart. If you haven't touched, looked at, or used something in the last four months, it can probably go and you won't miss it, or can replace it with something better suited to your new USVI home.

Let us know what yu end up with -- we're all cheering for you to be the next (maybe only?) packer with no regrets...

HC

Stu and HipCrip: Soooo we all get to meet in a bar when I get there, right? lol -- I will take your advice and sell. My suitcases will be loaded with sheets, flashlights, batteries, skin-so-soft, mosquito nets and maybe a few clothes. That just about wraps it up, huh? Ya'll are too funny. Thanks for all of your help and I'll come up with some more stupid questions for ya'll to answer tomorrow. K

Hello Kathy,

You can get flashlights here and batteries. Use that space for other things that you might want or need. (Not sure if you were kidding or not.) If the skin so soft are those flip caps they used to have; make sure to tape the lid shut and put it in a zip lock bag... I had a bottle spill in a package once... ohhhh what a mess. For clothes bring summer type stuff only... no need for sweaters ect... Bring some nicknacks that remind you of home too... will help make your new place feel a little more comfortable.

--Islander

Oh my god - that skin-so-soft spilling in my suitcase would be just my luck! Thanks for the great advice. K

oh my god!!!! you guys are scaring me. we have just started to weed and purge. so far we have gotten the attic and storage shed done. the garage and closets are next. never thought we had this much junk, i have been having garage sales everyother weekend and really getting ready to just call salvation army to come get the rest, my husband only wants to take one suitcase each when we move. and his will have his dive equipment in it. no cloths!? i am going to put some stuff in storage and mark it well and if we think we will need it then we can have someone here ship it to us down there, i really am looking forward to simplifying and down sizing our STUFF. LeeAnn

Kathy,
I shipped 25 boxes of stuff and two smallish pieces of furniture by VI Cargo. It cost less than $400. I also paid my son-in-law $650 to drive it down from KY to FL.

Ric: Thanks again -- that gives me more ideas regarding downsizing.