The 8 letter swear word

In my little male oriented household, the word ‘shopping’ is considered a swear word. Getting any of my MM’s to accompany me to the shops is harder than pulling teeth. It’s worse if I want them to come food shopping, then it’s akin to water torture.

Yet last night, the younger two MM’s accompanied me on a shopping expedition which for the record was one of the quickest shopping trips I’ve ever made. We took an hour and a half from start to finish.

Of course the enticement was considerable – new clothes (and not boring functional clothes either). Hubby was fed up with middle MM constantly putting his clothes that he wanted for the day in the clothes dryer. This is not because MM has any shortage of clothes, but because he has his favourites. His favourites are the types which have a sports logo on them which then increases the price by at least three times.

He also destroys clothes at a rapid rate because he is like a magnet to dirt, grease and paint. Not to mention the ability he has to snag, rip and shred every item of clothing he wears. Expensive clothes or not, they don’t have a long life span, so I’m hesitant to buy him expensive clothing for this reason.

Now that he’s working (and earning good money) we agreed that he could buy what ever he needed and we would go halves in the price – which will still almost require me to take out a bank loan for our half of the cost. Hubby is at odds as to why MM can’t wear windcheaters like he does – the $9 department store variety.

Hubby is strictly a shorts and work boots sort of guy, aside from the pants and collared shirts he wears for work, his entire wardrobe is shorts and shirts. Getting him into jeans or dress pants occurs only for business functions or weddings and is always under extreme duress. He too is the grease and dirt magnet variety so does not allow me to spend more than the bare minimum on shirts, shorts and windcheaters for him.

Last night I spent a record $400 in just over an hour, which probably amounts to my entire wardrobe allocation for the year. Youngest MM also got his share of new clothing because I believe in being fair – he’s desperate to earn his own money but is still a little young to venture into the working market. Youngest MM is not as much of a dirt and grease magnet which is also a good thing.

One thing about clothes shopping with my boys is it’s quick, there’s only 2 or 3 shops that we need to visit and the choices are reasonably limited. We move quickly through the shopping centre because heaven help us if their friends see them shopping with their mother, there’s no dawdling or stopping to window shop, it’s in and out.

I guess there’s something to be said for limited choices and quick decision making ability. Me, I take hours considering all of my different options when it comes to clothes shopping and I have a real issue with spending exorbitant amounts of money on clothing just because it has a logo on it. This means I’m more inclined to hunt down the bargains and this obviously takes more time.

My one thought through all of this is, I'm sure it's harder with girls!

Cheers, Fi

When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking. ~Elayne Boosler