Let’s get this straight from the outset - the women and men shop differs massively. Most women enjoy shopping and take their time doing. If they have the time, a women can spend an entire day out shopping. They love ot browse slowly, even if they don’t plan on buying anything in that shop. Infact, the process is as important as the end result in general and if they don’t come home with anything then it’s not the end of the world.

But men tend to be different, of course. Men dislike long shopping sprees. They want shopping to take as little time as possible and go out with a clear goal - such as to buy a birthday present. To men, spending hours looking ta things they have no intention of buying seems pointless and clothes are often bought without even trying them on.

In short, for the average person, shopping is a chore for men, and a pleasure for women.

And because of these two windly different points of view, when a mixed-sex couple goes shopping, it can become something of a trial where arguments can occur and tempers can be lost.

Yet, couples manage to go shopping together each weekend - so it clearly *is* possible. But what are the secrets to a smooth shopping spree that won’t overly stress either party?

In short, the biggest thing to bear in mind is a combination of compromise and rembering the other persons opinion - just like success in any other part of your relationship.

More concrete guidelines include:

1) Keep Shopping Trips As Short As Possible

Whilst women like to shop at a leisurely pace, men will start to get bored or fed up after a few hours so it is perhaps best to spend “just a morning” shopping together so you get some hours of quality time together but your partner doesn’t have time to get too bored.

2) Try To Have Something To Look Forward To At The End

To make the time seem more worthwhile, why not try to arrange something at the end of the shopping trip. Something set in stone like a movie you already have tickets for or a dinner reservation. Not only will your partner therefore know exactly when the shopping trip will end - making it less stressful - but there is also something to look forward to at the end.

3) Try To Get An Even Mixture Of Shops

While women tend to like clothes shops, shops selling accessories like bags and shoes, together with home stores, men tend to prefer shops selling gadgets, music and movies. So try to get a fair balance between the two - going into each one together as a couple. Sure, *you* might not want to look at shoes, but she probably doesn’t want to look at camcorders either. Keep it fair and nobody can complain.

4) Set A Maximum Time Per Shop

Another common complaint of men is how long they have to stay in some shops for. So set a time limit in advance that you both cheerily agree to, as the maxmimum time either of you will stay in a shop. This too means that the “uncomfortable bits” should be over swiftly and you’ll soon be onto something a little more of interest to you.