As you may know living in Germany presents some unique challenges for those of us who are living off base, such as having 220v outlets instead of the US 110v ones. Here is my list of my Must Have 220v Items for living in Germany, it may not be as many as your thinking…I’ve also included the best items that are Dual voltage and we didn’t even realize until we moved here!
Must Have 220v Items
These are the items that I use a lot and don’t want to haul around or use a transformer for them, so I just bought 220v versions.
1) Cordless Vacuum – Having tile/marble/wood floors in 98% of the house this is a must! Especially since I hate sweeping & mopping, this makes daily clean up a breeze! I ordered it from Amazon.de and had it delivered to my door.
2) Steam Mop – Again another must because I despise mopping! Another Amazon.de purchase.
3) Vacuum – Who wants to lug around a transformer while the vacuum…not this girl! We bought this used for $10 after we arrived. It’s ok but I’m not a fan of pulling the thing around…but that’s the style here in Europe. It also needs bags which I’m finding to be a hassle to locate so I may end up getting a bag less one in the near future.
4) Crockpot – I use this at least twice a week so it it makes sense to get a 220v to save on electricity. I scored it used for $15.
5) Xbox Power Cords – We have 2 Xbox’s so we decide it would be best to get the 220v power supply cords at Ramstein. They were $40 each but we’ll easily be able to resell them when we leave.
6) Small Appliances – Hand Mixer, Blender, sandwich maker, toaster oven, etc. I have been able to locate all these used for cheap, the blender was $10 everything else was $5 or less.
7) Sander – well I haven’t bought it yet but it’s on the must buy ASAP list! 😉
Dual Voltage Items (meaning they are 110v to 240v and can work here with a small adaptor) but do not require a transformer.
1) Our Apple products!! iPads, iMacs, iPhones, MacBooks, ect all work! So glad we’re an Apple family 😉 Bub does have a windows computer but we were able to locate a 220v power cord for it.
2) HP printer, I was so excited about this one! We use our printer a lot.
3) Silhouette Cameo, I was even more excited about this!! So glad I don’t need a transformer for this.
4) Canon Camera battery chargers! We have my DSLR and some point & shoots, just needing an adaptor makes it easy for traveling with them.
No air conditioning in my apartment, so the 220v floor fan is key in summertime. Also, a 220v microwave oven, bedside alarm clock, and egg boiler are all in heavy use in my apartment.
And my television is a German market Samsung, so naturally that’s 220v. Most of the rest of my electronics are dual voltage though.
Oh your right! A microwave is a MUST 220V for us! I guess I forgot about it since it was provided by FMO 😉 We don’t use alarm clocks…just our iPhones so we haven’t needed one of those.
I didn’t think about fans yet since we’ve only been here 4 months but I agree those will be a must for the summer!
TV’s are dual except one that we will have to use on a transformer.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I’m hoping that this summer is a tiny bit milder than last year. Our summer was brief last year, but we had 30-35C for roughly two weeks. At its peak, that was about 95F.
With no air conditioning, my after-work routine was to shut off *everything* that could generate heat including the lights and try my best to not move at all…
Not move at all…Bah ha ha!! Luckily we have a ‘basement’ so I’m hoping that will say cooler and we can all hibernate down there and try to ride out the hot days. Hoping for a mild summer but after this mild winter I have a feeling we’ll pay for it this summer!
Stuff you seriously never think about until….you are there lol!
I agree!
Looking for 220/240V Hair curlers….not curling iron..Any Suggestions where to look?
I haven’t seen any locally BUT I can’t say that I’ve been looking either. I’d say if you can’t find any on the economy I’d try Amazon.de for larger purchases you can also use a VAT form as I’ve used it to buy a 220V steam mop & cordless stick vac. Hope you can find some soon 🙂
What is a VAT form? We just moved to Spain and they have the VAT Tax here. Can you get reimbursed for that?
Thank you
🙂
It’s a tax exempt form we buy from the VAT office on base, I’m not sure if it’s available in Spain or not you’ve have to check with your base.
We are moving to buechel so we have to live off base. Do you suggest that we bring our 120v tv ? Its an 52″ lcd . I have heard that we can use with a transformer but will that work? We want to watch dvd s ( with our us dvd player) and tv over the Internet . Netflix, hulu, etc.
Yes, you can use it with a transformer but if you watch a lot of TV it could get expensive. We use dual voltage TV’s. We have one we could use with a transformer if needed but we don’t. You’ll also find you’ll watch far less TV here. We do watch Netflix & Hulu but daily TV time is very little because we are generally out doing stuff 🙂