 Hello, welcome back to this YouTube channel. My name is Daniel Rosel. This YouTube channel contains videos all about living in Israel. Today we're going to deal with the kind of post-Aliah information that Nefish Beneficent Co. simply aren't going to tell you. I call it the real person's financial survival guide to living in Israel. It's not patriotic. It's not always ethical, but it is mostly effective. We all know that the cost of living in Israel is among the highest in the developed world. If you've been living here for more than three months or however long it took you to undo birthright brainwashing, then you've probably also figured out that you can count the number of things that are cheaper to buy in Israel on only your left hand. Those are falafel, prescription medications, and Jewish education. You can remember that by the acronym FPJ, which stands for Fryerim Page Actor Prices. And that's basically it. Everything else in Israel is going to cost you more. Fortunately, to paraphrase the great pioneer of Zionism, Deodor Herzl himself, who if you were alive today would surely have been a serious Amazon Prime fiend, where there's a will, there's a way. In this video, I'm going to share some tips for buying stuff while living in Israel that doesn't put you in the minus. Tip one, don't buy stuff in Israel. The number one rule for successful, hedonistic consumerism while living in Israel is to not purchase things in Israel. The more financially minded among the olien population and will tell you that the solution is instead to stop engaging in retail therapy and to put spiritual pursuits like learning Torah above the glorious pursuits of consumerism and next-day deliveries. But we all know that that's only a fast path to depression and Yerida. The ideal solution for many on this trajectory is purchasing only foodstuffs of medicines in Israel, with literally everything else being shipped in from AliExpress, Amazon, and whoever else has decided to ship to Israel. Naturally this is incredibly unsustainable, it also means supporting merchants potentially engaging in unethical practices abroad like operating sweatshops. However, we can all agree that in the financial struggle to stay in Israel that all tactics and methods can be justified. Here's a non-exhaustive list of companies that ship to Israel. Remember that if the order value is more than $75, you'll be charged 17% VAT, which will undo some, but hopefully not all, with the savings. Remember also that customs declarations in China are more an art form than a bureaucratic document, and that merchants may be open to creative interpretations of good descriptions and values. Shine sells women's clothing. AliExpress sells essentially every product that's ever been produced. Ever. Amazon ships here and has a long-standing $49 and over free shipping policy on selected items. I hear, sell stuff you probably don't need for your health, like supplements and vitamins, but they do so at very affordable prices. Tip 2 Use your extended family as shopping mules Recently, an American couple was caught gummy-handed at Ben-Gurion airport while attempting to bring 650 pounds of fruit roll-ups into Israel. They literally had suitcases full of the popular candy because there was a shortage in Israel. The only remarkable thing about this creative import attempt was that they got caught. Otherwise, they were just continuing the time-honoured tradition among immigrants to Israel of using trips out of the country to shore up on goods. The key to not befalling the same grim and embarrassing fate as this couple is to make use of your family, extended families, and even in-laws as mules, bringing products with you whenever they are visiting Israel. If things are desperate, you may even be able to guilt old high school friends into picking some Amazon packages for you by selling them on a sub-story about how bananas haven't arrived to Israel yet and things are really quite desperate. The prevalence of the family mulling mechanism isn't known, but it's believed to be nearly universal among immigrants. Of course, this means that essentially everybody boarding an El Al flight who tells the checkout agent that nobody has given them something to pack in their luggage is lying. The key to the success of this method is of course relationship maintenance. Consider throwing in a bottle of cognac for Uncle Dory if you'll bring that new camera lens you want from B&H. Just don't forget to throw a T-Cart and destroy the package labeling. It's Dory's old lens after all. Tip 3, go on shopping trips to Europe. The third most effective way to get stuff you need in Israel for less is to embark upon shopping trips in Europe for this express purpose. Yesteryear's generation of immigrants here really had it tough. They didn't have this luxury because Ryanair, Wizair, EasyJed and all the other low-cost carriers weren't operating out of Israel yet, but thanks to the open skies agreement all has changed and it has changed for the better. These days you can book flights to Europe and back on various low-cost carriers for literally less than the cost of a single night in a shoddy hotel in Elat. If you share my bank account draining addiction to buying audio video accessories then it's worth knowing that when it comes to Amazon, Amazon.com isn't the only game or I should say marketplace in town. Within easy reach of Israel there's also Amazon.it, Amazon Italia, Amazon.fr, Amazon France, Amazon DE which is Amazon Germany and Amazon ES which is Amazon in Spain. That's only a very partial selection. You'll want to begin sending Amazon packages to your hotel room ideally just before you arrive so that you can get the unboxing out of the way as soon as possible and then enjoy the rest of your trip. Of course you can also shop for clothing and really whatever else you've determined might make your life happier and stuff as much of it as you can fit into a suitcase. Many people undertaking this method take a few precautions although the reasons why they do so are not fully understood and I'm certainly not endorsing them. They take photographs of receipts and then leave them behind in their hotel room. They unbox all their purchases to make them appear like used goods and after photographing them they remove any tags that may make it easier for customs officials to trace where good was purchased. Serial number stickers which begin with SN are a great example. Common destinations for shopping trips include Istanbul, the Far East, Italy and the UK. Even expensive destinations abroad are probably cheaper than Israel. Don't let living in Israel and the fact that most things here cost 200% of their recommended retail price deter you from shoring up on things you don't need and spending more money than you can probably afford. Instead use these three tips to maximize the amount of stuff you buy from overseas and to buy stuff for less. Thanks for watching, subscribe and like for more videos.