21.9.06

Men Are From Mars , My Wife From Sears.

My wife is a wise shopaholic . She's a tireless and patient shopper. She scours through rackful of merchandise store after store . Males do not usualy do that . Me and my 2 sons just buy stuff we see on the supermarkets without looking at the price. ' Just get it done and get out of there ' is my motto. Not so with her.
When we lived in Asia , she sometimes do some travelling just to shop . Her fav spot to shop is Hongkong . It's the shopper's heaven. Travel agencies even offer shopper's fare. Of course being part of China , it's no.1 market for imitation . All kinds of designer's copy can be found there . Christian Dior , Gloria Vanderbuilt you name it , it's there. In Bangkok , Thailand , she liked buying low cost real jewelries and fake watches like Rolex. The night markets there are great. That's where she shopped for inexpensive clothes. Singapore is the place to buy electronics . You might think that Japan is it 'cos that's where the electronic products are 1st made . Nope , it's expensive over there . Japan is the place where you can find new electronic products not found elsewhere. Lastly , Indonesia is where she shops for ' batik ' design textiles. One thing she missed in shopping here is the ' haggling ' with the sales people . ' You cannot haggle here 'coz it's fixed price ' she told me one time. ' Yes you can ' I quickly answered her . ' Go to the open market.' From thenon , she makes sure she goes to the open market wherever we are . Me and my big mouth !

7 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

hats off to the missus...i am a believer in if you can buy it cheaper buy it cheaper..when i was working i phoenix about 14 years ago they had a store(still do i guess) that has all the stuff that other stores couldnt sell at that price and this store buys them all up for a fraction .and sells them by dates..like wed..it might be $24...thurs $20...fridayit might be $5...so if you can hide it someplace in the racks and hope no one wants it on thurs for $20 you can snap it up on friday for $5..oh man i loved that store...i bought my daughter entire school years clothing for $200...we figured the orginal prices up when we got home and was over $3,000 she thought i was a wizzard...ha..cant imagine what i would do in bangkok..hooboy

Gattina said...

I hate shopping, I only go if it's really necessary but haggeling that I love, then I become a shopacohlic ! I love to do that when we go to Egypt, or on the Canarian Islands in Spain ! And apparently I am so good in haggeling that English or American or other tourists are taking me with them only for that, because they are ashamed of haggeling ! Compliment to your wife !

Penguin said...

Whatta guy!

Su said...

I'm with you. I go in, I buy, I leave. I only shop around for electronics. (Singapore was an absolute paradise for that!) I never had much luck clothes shopping in Asia. "What is this size 16 that you speak of? We have no such thing here. Try the troll's department in the basement."

mckait said...

i hate to shop! i admire those who do it well..

i am not bad.. i find the bargains.. but, some of my favorite clothing i have found lying on the wrong table somewhere or on the wrong rack// serendipity

food shopping is done by what is on sale.. lol

our food store has 2fers... i get those

anyway

take care and happy shopping to your wife! lol

be glad you dont have to do it!

( i actually save food labels and wrappers for the times i send dan to the store.. seriously.. )

Ellen said...

Hi... my name is Ellen... and I am a shop-a-holic.....for bargains.

Already I love your wife for having such a good trait! Nothing better than finding bargains where you can. I can't say I've been anyplace exotic... but I have done enough damage to the economy by shopping at thrift marts, discount stores, and even Goodwill. You can't haggle over the prices, but they are a lot cheaper than regular prices anyway. I can find designer and not so designer jeans at Goodwill, all for $5.50 a pair. Woohoo for my pocketbook... and more funds available to help put my son through school.

john said...

y.g. - that phoniex store is perfect for my wife.i have not heard of that 'marketing concept' altho every now and then supermarkets offer 'close to expiry date goods ' !

gattina - ha, ha , ha ' you should form a company offering 'haggling' services !

penguin - thanks but no thanks .

su - lol. happy shopping at the basement !

kat - yes . you're absolutely right . someone has to do the shopping fot the family and at least 1 of us loves doing it !

ellen - that's what my wife tells me all the time - she saves a lot of money shopping for bargains .... money for use to do more shopping !