Shopping With My Husband

Sometimes I think we women are just plain nuts.

When we were on holiday a couple of weeks ago in Utah my husband, daughter and I hit the outlet mall armed with coupons and deals. None of us really needed too much so we shopped carefully, I think. Beth loaded up on the next sizes of kiddie clothes for Chelsea. I picked up a couple of grand baby outfits for our two (well, almost two,) grandchildren, and Ron got sweaters.

Most of the stores had deals and we took advantage. When Ron and I went into the Izod store for his sweaters, I took a look at the women's side. They had exactly the same sweater for ladies that Ron bought in quadruple. Great, I thought, and checked the price. Can you believe that the identical sweater in smaller sizes was ten dollars more? I was angry. Tempted no more, I dropped the lovely mauve piece and stomped out.

Why does this happen? Men's clothes are bigger, use more fabric/yarn, yet they are cheaper. A good bargain on a shirt for a man is $10-$20, and this is beautiful packaged goods, the regular price. A similar blouse for a woman is $40-$50, no packaging, just hanging on the rack. Now I don't really want the packaging but I'm trying to see why smaller clothes cost so much more. Could it be that women will pay anything to get that piece while most men really don't care? Do the stores see us coming?

And this morning I picked up the plastic tube of makeup I've been avoiding using because I don't like it that well. I read the small print on the front: "illuminating anti-fatigue foundation". What? It's going to keep me from being tired? It's going to put a halo effect on my face? Wow, this is really amazing stuff. I tried it once more and looked in the mirror at my skin. Was it "replumped"? Was it "radiant", with a "smooth finish"? Well, not so much. It was the same stuff that's been buffeted for sixty-plus years. A little tinted, maybe, with the brown spots muted, but really, it just didn't look replumped at all.

Of course, most of us don't like that idea of being replumped so maybe I should be happy and just head out to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. On my way I'll think about the difference between men's clothes and women's. Could it be that things are just cheaper on Mars?