Young Family moving to DR - What to bring/not to bring?

i think that life with two small kids is bad enough do not add nerves and anger of dealing with customs and delays. buy stuff here. granted, you will pay more but it may be easier.

important thing for you is to set a mail forwarding system with po box in miami. we use EPS but there are many other choices. you will be there able to but items from ebay/amazon and other sites and ship them here. some will deliver to your doorstep, others to a local office.

my advice on what to buy: dryer. yes, it is hot and nice but this is very elusive with a family like this you generate lots of laundry. get a big washing machine and separate dryer. you will thank me later. there are times when my clothes do not see the light of the day because it is too cold, too humid and too rainy to dry anything outside.

I agree, buy it here!
I have raised three babies here. It's expensive, but doable.
I might disagree about the "Dryer", due to the VERY HIGH cost of electricity.
If you go the "Dryer" route, buy "GAS"!
"LaSirena" dept. store in Puerto Plata, has lots of "Baby" stuff.
What is your monthly budget?
That will make a huge difference in Sooooooooooo many areas here!
Welcome, and Good Luck"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well…

I did the move last year and we had 1 1/2 years old with us at that time. We brought everything except kitchen sink. Just like dv8 mentioned the process of bringing in wasn’t easy. We had to suffer and go through agonizing hell and delays to some of the boxes and stuff we send.

Once our stuff landed at Santo Domingo they did the scan through documents and found some luxury items so they decided to open our container up. Apparently couple sets of used golf clubs and hundreds of used ball that I picked up from golf courses and few bottles of wines we bought at discount store and some Korean sprits set them off and went through opening up all the boxes and searched through every single item in the box. We end up negotiating with the customs for the fair price and pay off golf clubs and few other stuff and dumped all the balls and the drinks. We used the shipping company to bring everything to our home in Santiago but somehow in process of moving from US to Santiago, we found several boxes missing. The broker reasoning behind all the hell we went through was simple. I just had a bad timing and luck of moving in the election time. They all want more money and they wanted to steal anyway they can. I beg to differ, with all the horror stories I’ve heard here, its common practice to satisfy their pocket and need.

Was it worth it?

Now that I think about it… It sure wasn’t easy. But we brought in everything that my wife and I wanted with assurances (perception? You decide) of getting better quality stuff that hopefully it will last bit longer. Since not a single big electronic thing that we brought had broken yet (knock on wood), we are happy that we brought everything in. If you planning to bring in stuff, spend couple of weeks to write down your family needs and will ever need and buy everything and BRING EVERYTING. And. Please spend few more bucks and buy bigger and better quality stuff, you will thank yourself later.

And additional tips
Cribs and other household items, you can find them here but I suggest buy baby items in the state bring them in your luggage, pay more if you have to. Just like you and CC said everything is here, but it isn’t easy to find some of the essential baby items or items with equal quality back in US. For instance on baby clothing and shoes, quality and feel of fabrics, trims and workmanship are subpar or it would cost your arm and leg for same quality stuff you can find at the local Wal-Mart discount bin. And bring plenty of baby toothpaste, I have forever searched for baby toothpaste but I have found none. I’ve brought our recently opened our last tube and I asked both in La Serena and Nacional and workers there gave me Kid’s toothpaste and said it’s the same thing, meanwhile my wife nagged me and saying it isn’t the same.

dv8 said:

i think that life with two small kids is bad enough do not add nerves and anger of dealing with customs and delays. buy stuff here. granted, you will pay more but it may be easier.

important thing for you is to set a mail forwarding system with po box in miami. we use EPS but there are many other choices. you will be there able to but items from ebay/amazon and other sites and ship them here. some will deliver to your doorstep, others to a local office.

my advice on what to buy: dryer. yes, it is hot and nice but this is very elusive with a family like this you generate lots of laundry. get a big washing machine and separate dryer. you will thank me later. there are times when my clothes do not see the light of the day because it is too cold, too humid and too rainy to dry anything outside.

Click to expand...

Time like this I am glad we brought washer and dryer combo as there is no room to put dryer in our house.

$2,500 is doable.
Depending on where you live, what you eat,and your rent, and if you plan on a vehicle, that will be a simple life on $2,500.
There are a LOT of initial expenses in setting up a residence.
I can easily see $5,000 in furniture, pots and pans, appliances, fans, etc.
Medical insurance, is about $1,500 dollars a year, depending on the plan, and number of people in your family.
I own my home in "SD", and my vehicle, but have 4 adults and 4 children to support.(Including two Young Adult "BOYS!)
$2,500 is less than half of what I spend
It has been said here on DR1 MANY Times, Figure out what you THINK it will cost you to live here, Then DOUBLE THAT!
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As CC mentioned double or atleast do 1.5X on everything. Living cheap is very doable. My Mrs. was soooo happy how cheaply we can survive here but it didn't last. She now wants to live a little.

in regards to the washing machine/dryer: i said separate for few reasons. firstly, those are larger capacity. two adults with two kids generate tons of dirty washing. heck, just kids can fill a washing machine in two days secondly, you can then have a gas dryer. cheap to use. i know because i have one

two more things: get good health insurance. a must for everyone but essential for a family.
and prepare to get an inversor. many threads on what would be best for a family like yours.

2.5 dollars a month is ok money for a family but nothing special. you will have lots of initial costs too: rental deposit, residency (if needed), car (better that public transport if you want to travel with kids) and so on.