The general cost of living in Taiwan is definitely lower than in Singapore, but sometimes you just dont need to buy things that you can’t bring back with you. So I’m compiling some stuff you can possibly bring over from Singapore (if you already have them at home) and save the NTDs for travelling and food!
Most of the stuff I will be mentioning are usually old things that you would have thrown away at home as well. Might as well use it for one last time in Taiwan and throw them before coming back! (This means you have more luggage space when you come back hohohoho)
However, if your luggage doesnt have a lot of space, there are some places that we went to buy our daily necessities, ranging from things like shower gel to bicycles. Check out this post for more info!
I’ll just leave you here with the list, hope it helps y’all better prepare for your exchange!
| Items | Remarks |
| Old rags and cloths of various sizes | Use as Cleaning rags, Hand towels, Bath towels |
| Wardrobe Organisers | If you have many clothes/ got the smaller wardrobe. Foldable kinds like these, I spent ~240NTD, which is such a waste |
| Toothbrushes | New ones (just one or two) for your teeth, maybe an old one to clean stuffs like bikes or toilet |
| Bed sheets, quilt covers, pillow cases, blankets | Cheap ones here are a terrible quality. It’s good to bring your own to stave off homesickness or if you just need to save money. The ones at ikea are not the right size and are too expensive.
Mattresses at sold at NTU are roughly 105X180cm, you can probably get away with bringing many quilt covers and double them up as bed sheets. Also if you are the kind that gets freezing cold at 25 degrees, it’s probably good to bring a thicker blanket, if you have space. |
| Nail clippers | No point buying more nail clippers and bringing them home if you already have one |
| Laundry bag | You can use huge plastic bags but they might smell bad if there’s no ventilation and if you sweat a lot. I am re-using the packaging from the mattresses as it’s a soft plastic bag that’s huge, that’s an option too haha. |
| Hangers (If space allows) | Seems like a waste to buy hangers that you won’t bring back. |
| Thermos flask | Thermos flasks are expensive anywhere |
| Recyclable bags (canvas tote bags or those free sports drawstring bags etc) | Taiwan is very serious about reducing plastic consumption, so you have to pay extra for using plastic bags. Plus it’s just good to be eco-friendly. |
| Sunscreen | The sun is pretty unforgiving for the first few weeks here. There’s also less aircon places to hide from the sun unlike in sg |
| Cups | This really depends on how much luggage space you have. It’s good to have a drinking mug and a container for toothpaste and toothbrush(but I reused a drink container for that) |
| Bicycle stuff: Lights, lock |
It’s just an unnecessary expense if you already had spare ones at home |
| table mirror | The toilet doesn’t provide the best lighting but this is really personal preference. I can get by with a small compact mirror |
| sewing kit | good to have |
| extension cord / power strips | VERY useful because the powerpoints in the room are far away from the bed. Plus you won’t have to buy so many adapters |
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