What to Buy When We Arrive

[davewe]

There's been a topic or two on what to bring from your home country when you make the move, but let me reverse it. We will be bringing clothes and some household/kitchen items but little else (except for my hand tools) when we make the move. What else might I need in the short run? I was reading a topic on bugs and thought "we'll need a bug zapper or two" and that got me to thinking - what else will I quickly need? I know we can hit Robinson's and buy out the store but I want to avoid that 

Don't know yet whether we will have a furnished or unfurnished rental. But for everyone whose made the move - what did you quickly need to buy?

Edited July 12, 2016 by davewe

[Old55]

Fans? 

[robert k]

Rice cooker.

[Gator]

3 hours ago, davewe said:

 

Don't know yet whether we will have a furnished or unfurnished rental. But for everyone whose made the move - what did you quickly need to buy?

Furnished or not - bed linens and possibly new pillows. 

Towels and cleaning supplies. 

Terro Ant Bait (Ace Hardware usually has it in stock) - works very well for the ubiquitous sugar ants. 

Plastic containers with tight sealing kids and some zip lock baggies to store food in order to keep the damn sugar ants from devouring everything in your kitchen cabinets !

Edited July 12, 2016 by Gator

[AlwaysRt]

5 gallon water bottle dispenser

[mogo51]

 

A sense of humour!

[Queenie O.]

8 minutes ago, mogo51 said:

 

A sense of humour!

Haha Unfortunately that can't be bought!

[Queenie O.]

I agree that fans would probably be number one whether or not you plan to add an aircon unit in the future. Ziplocks and small containers was another good idea, as well as the suggestion of linens and towels and cleaning supplies. Water jugs to start or a water dispenser was a great idea.

 I would say getting a new cell phone that meets your needs would be important right away. Flashlights (rechargeable) are great no matter where you're living, because there will always be a brownout somewhere. Plastic buckets are very helpful, along with related plastic items. Depending on what kind of cooking situation you're going to have, a propane gas tank is something you'll probably need right away. An umbrella might be nice to have.. Everyones priorities are different of course. You'll find out that there is always something that you didn't think of that becomes huge for you.

[frosty (chris)]

Insect spray, c.r. paper, alcohol for cleaning your hands and some for drinking.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

Phone load. ha ha

Seriously, plug adapters. The 220 appliances you buy here will quite often have different plug configurations, depending on what country they were made in.  A plug like this is at all the hardware stores and cheap (under p40). It does not transform voltage at all, just a plug multi adapter.  You can buy outlet strips with these plugs. It is all we buy because all our stuff has odd plug ends. 

You will also need outlet strips and extension cords. Most Filipino construction has very few electrical outlets. Every place we have rented has 1 outlet per room.

Has anyone mentioned rechargeable fan and rechargeable lights?  A power bank for your phone.  You have to be brownout ready.