Making my list and checking it twice !

Friends, we are so excited about moving to Joco first of Septiembre. We're not total newbies to lakeside as we have visited my in-laws lakeside for many years. My wife's mom first moved there in the 60's !  We're not moving down with any furniture. Only the basics. Here's my condensed list.

* Clothing*
* Kitchen gear*
* 2 Flat Screen TV's*
* 2 Laptops*
* Tool Box*
* Bedding,sheets,towels,blankets*
* Voltage Regulator, 2 small UPS's*
* Cell phone, Ooma VOIP box*
* Mini Weber Kettle Grill and a couple bags of charcoal*
* A small box of personal treasures*

That's about it so far.  

What pops out to you as "must have" for most anyone..

Thanks !

Sounds okay if you already have all that stuff, but most of it can be purchased locally if you don't.
If you happen to have a cast iron piece of cookware, bring it. Very expensive and hard to find here.
Good luck on your journey and welcome!

Extra 100% cotton bedding as it's not always easily available ..... and queen is an odd sized mattress. I'm sure there are exceptions but Soriana and Walmart always had King, Double and Single. Mattress pads as well

I buy mine at Second Hand stores every time up north

Why carry charcoal?

Remember Mexican bedding sizes can vary from NOB sizes as mattresses here are shorter.

I just bought a king size set of Elegant Comfort sheets from Amazon,very soft and breathable,38 dollars including shipping.

RV' s right there is no reason to haul charcoal to Mexico.

I'd bring all except the charcoal. Clothing is expensive here as are bedding and kitchen stuff. I brought all of my hand tools and hand-held power tools. When you get her would you rather be using your tools to get your home in order or out shopping for tools, bedding, clothing and the like?

Well, we all agree that the charcoal is unnecessary.

Woody hasn't mentioned if he's moving into a rental that's furnished, or a bought a place, or what. So beyond that, I have no idea what to suggest.

And to Spencer's point, I almost bought a Queen Sized bed down here from a private party who'd never used it, then I noticed it was 4 inches shorter that the US Queen sized bed I had, so even bed linens….who knows.

Generally, those categories that are "available", but much more expensive here, are the things I'd bring down: Quality clothes, linens and towels, tools, all important kitchen tools if you cook, etc. Over all, I'd say the list looks pretty smart and good.

Really appreciate the feedback. Good heads up on bedding,size differences, cast iron cookware, etc.. Everything on the list we own now. I went back and forth on buying some of those items after we arrive but heck there's little re-sale value on any of it here so since we're driving down I figured might as well bring it. The tools are special to me as some of them were my dads. My sister-in-law has a huge,wonderful home on the hillside in Joco where we can stay short term. Plan to take our time and are hopeful to find just the right furnished long term rental. Oh, the charcoal.. We're coming from Seattle and plan to do some camping along the way.. I prefer camp cooking with charcoal over LP !  If you think of anything else let me know.. gracias de nuevo..

Woody wrote:I went back and forth on buying some of those items after we arrive but heck there's little re-sale value on any of it here so since we're driving down I figured might as well bring it. The tools are special to me as some of them were my dads.

Exactly. If you already own it and there is room in the car, bring it. And DO NOT sell the tools that belonged to your dad, at least the ones that will be useful here. (Some may not be useful here, don't know what the tools are.) Not only do they have emotional value, those tools are much better made and crafted than than the tools that are for sale today, here, or anywhere else for that matter.

I covet a friends "heritage tools" and I'm not even a tool person. The stuff available today is junk.

i brought all the tools and shop equipment that i didn't sell so i have a complete woodworking shop and mechanics tools. got the work tables here and built the shelves in my shop for hand tools paints etc.
you will get real mesquite charcoal here and i did bring my weber.

Woody,if you like to read open a library account in Seattle and bring an e-reader.

you can borrow real books from the american legion,lcs and magana fish and chips in riberas. there may be other places too.

Pedro wrote:you can borrow real books from the american legion,lcs and magana fish and chips in riberas. there may be other places too.

With the library accounts my kids set up for me in LA and San Francisco I have free,easy 24/7 access to over 100,000 books.

Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic has a special room where books from the main library end up and are for sale very cheaply. Sometimes, they have a big "book sale" and there's plenty to take home even more cheaply. No membership required. If you're a member, the main library is free. They also have a video rental library. Not free, but reasonable.

gringal wrote:Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic has a special room where books from the main library end up and are for sale very cheaply.

Yep,sometimes they have as many as a hundred old books for sale..I used to make regular book runs to Ajijic from Guadalajara,now with a Kindle those trips are no longer necessary.

gringal wrote:Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic has a special room where books from the main library end up and are for sale very cheaply.  Sometimes, they have a big "book sale" and there's plenty to take home even more cheaply. No membership required.  If you're a member, the main library is free.  They also have a video rental library.  Not free, but reasonable.

Unfortunately most of it is adult reading and not very much for the kids...

viajero wrote:Woody,if you like to read open a library account in Seattle and bring an e-reader.

 Right on Viajero.. I have King County account and I'm 90% an eReader.. My wife is old school and it's paper only for her !  Good to have options for sure..

I really wish I'd kept my Seattle City Library Card with me when I moved down so I could use it…..and I don't even have an e-reader yet. I'm a hold out, but it's becoming inevitable, especially living here.

tictoc, don't know the age of your kids, but there are some English Language books at the Wilkes Library in Ajijic that are for children. Not a lot, but some. Get 'em an e-reader…I doubt e-books are limited to adult publications, but what do I know? I don't even own one yet!

Rosa Venus wrote:I really wish I'd kept my Seattle City Library Card with me when I moved down so I could use it…..and I don't even have an e-reader yet. I'm a hold out, but it's becoming inevitable, especially living here.

tictoc, don't know the age of your kids, but there are some English Language books at the Wilkes Library in Ajijic that are for children. Not a lot, but some. Get 'em an e-reader…I doubt e-books are limited to adult publications, but what do I know? I don't even own one yet!

Thanks, great to know. We have several smart devices and two different county's library cards so we are up on the online reading stuff. My wife wants them to have paper stuff so thanks for the information. We will check it out!!!

Rosa Venus wrote:I really wish I'd kept my Seattle City Library Card with me when I moved down so I could use it <snip>

Rosa Venus, maybe your library account is still valid unless you closed it on purpose.. If still active then setting you up for eReading is pretty straight forward.  Might be worth a call to the Library.

Thanks for that tictoc. I´m far too lazy to pro-actively close an account as benign as a library card, so maybe I´ll look into it, if I ever buy an e-reader!

Rosa Venus wrote:Thanks for that tictoc. I´m far too lazy to pro-actively close an account as benign as a library card, so maybe I´ll look into it, if I ever buy an e-reader!

It would be crazy for your library to loan books that are not compatible with Kindle. Amazon has free Kindle apps for just about anything with a screen. With the appropriate app you could read on a tablet, phone, laptop, etc. No e-reader required. I would not be too surprised if Nook, or others, had similar apps.