To buy or not to buy

Do you go grocery or clothes shopping with your husband? Or do you shudder at the thought?

Most women say their husband hates shopping, and to have them there is hell. I am not in that position, my other half actually LIKES shopping. The only downside to this is my lack of freedom for those times when I want to shop alone. We are joined at the hip and I rarely get a chance to browse.

When it comes to clothes shopping it can be a huge disadvantage. Precious ‘birthday money’ is something I like to maximise. To get the most fun from it I like to squander some on a new top or pants, and to get the best deal takes time. You know how it is, you need to look at all the options, compare prices, and weigh up if the item will go with colours you have or be right for your lifestyle. Then there is trying it all on, which can be frustrating in small changing rooms. On the plus side my husband has several times found exactly what I was looking for, so I am grateful for his input. He is especially good at finding good cut price shoes.

Grocery shopping can be a minefield though; we need to keep to a budget and this often goes a bit pear shaped. Comments like “that steak looks good” are often met with a refusal from me. I can feed us for three days on a similar cash outlay I tell him. Also my husband loves gadgets but I loathe them. We have reached the point in our lives when I no longer want to sort through a drawer full of odd shaped bits of plastic and discarded spare parts. I don’t have time, and in my not-very-modern kitchen, I don’t have space. This also might lead to heated discussions. I make bad choices too, and he asks “Do we really need that?”. I admit my guilty secret if shopping when hungry is picking up wicked sweet things like cheesecake. I don’t need it and neither do my hips! But the ‘treats’ are always negotiable; it depends on the state of our finances. On our good weeks I will say yes to a large bag of cashews, on a bad week we pass the shelf without a pick up. I might pick up small bag of their mini chocolate bars for $2.29. Lamb chops reduced to $4.25 – that was a bargain this week. But perhaps the Himalayan salt and pepper grinder was a luxury at $3.99. We justified it by saying it would be good on picnics.

So shopping day is over, the cupboard is full, the cats have many tins of minced lamb cat food and we have the essentials of life. For that and the fact that we still have each other I am grateful.

Do you take your partner shopping? Do they like it or loathe it? Tell us below!