Are you a good shopper?

Post Reply New Topic

Can you shop for yourself and other people for the holidays?

I'm so terrible at it. Even online... I just don't really want things.

I have a hard time shopping for people. I never thought it would be hard as a parent for my son. I enjoyed it as a kid only because I would get my brothers toys that I liked and wanted to play with and it was never girl stuff of course. I don't do that anymore.

The only good thing about being single and estranged from family is I no longer have to worry about pissing someone off for not reading their minds about what they want.

Like I said before, mind-reading is a fakir's trick. If you want something, tell me what you want and I'll decide if it's worth the cost.

I bake about 200 really big cookies. all my favorites. I have been doing it for almost 20 years. I feel like a cookie santa. . I love to do it to the point when sometimes it gives me happy tears. I make a list, check it twice. naughty or nice. hahaha! I package them up, and run around, and drop them off to all the people I love. people get mad when they dont get thier cookies let me tell ya. I dont make those girly cookis with sprinkles and crap on them either. I make breakfast cookies. ones with oatmeal, nuts, cereal, coconut, CHOCOLATE!! !. big sugar cookies, with marciano cherries on top. old fashiond peanut butter, and snicker doodles. a long time ago, I was really poor. got invited to see the family. I wanted to give, but had next to nothing. soo, I made my favorite cookies. everyone, and I loved it soo much, I have been doing it ever since. you know what makes a really good cookie???? LOVE!

I only shop for myself because I don't have a family or friend here to shop for. So no Christmas shopping for me to do.

I like shopping for myself. But I hate shopping for others if I ever have to. I end up spending hours/days to decide what to get and even more to do actual shopping. In the past I ruined half my overseas vacation by stressing about souvenirs etc for others. Since then I decided not to get anything for others. It's just a waste of time and money.

I'm normally not a good shopper, unless I got by myself, shop on my own terms, and have a list with me. My gf insists we grocery shop together and insists on going to the busiest store at the busiest time. I have my pace and my habits and she has hers. I like to get in and out. The biggest thing that bothers me are the people who hover while you're trying to make a selection.

I have a terrible time trying to figure out gifts for people. It is my habit to go out to a mall, and make my way around to as many stores as possible to "hunt" for ideas. Visual discovery complete, I put the item, location, price, recipient, in my mind, and go off looking for inspiration with regards to other persons on my list.

I never purchase on "hunting" days. This means that I have only the clock and crowds as my enemies - I know I will not be doing lineups that day.

Then I would go on shopping days. Store. Lineup. Out. No puttering around. I have an agenda and I know where everything is. I know I can shut off my thinker.

I am an excellent shopper and people have told me that gift selection is one of my gifts.

I am generally quite good at shopping. I look at Amazon wish lists and also ask people what they would like for christmas or birthdays. I tend to my my research online and purchase items that way or less often in physical stores. Sometimes, I see things while I'm out and about and either buy it for someone that I know would like it or make a mental note of it and get it online later.

i'm pretty good at shopping for birthday cards.

as for regular every day shopping...like for groceries. i don't fall for the supermarket tricks.
i went shopping alone before...with a list. and i got everything on that list. i didn't fall for any tricks and wind up with extra stuff in my cart.

for christmas shopping this year...i was going with a theme. Dollar store xmas shopping is my theme. i'll let y'all know how that works out after everyone got their presents.

I really dislike shopping. As I get older I dislike it more and more.

I am quite good at it though when I've got the patience.

I hate having to buy people gifts for particular occasions; I mostly just don't do it. On the other hand, I do tend to see things when I'm out and about or travelling and think, "ooh, X would like that", so then I buy it for them and give it to them whenever I next see them. (No point in having it cluttering up my flat until their birthday or whatever when they could be enjoying it already.)

As far as I can tell, the few people who might expect gifts from me on their birthday or Christmas or whatever are OK with the fact that I probably won't have anything on those days because I'll have got them things at other times over the year, and they know that's how I am.

What I'm really, really bad at, though, is receiving gifts. I get ridiculously upset if someone gets me something I don't like, and the knick-knacks I don't hate but have no use for still annoy me quite a lot. I'm perfectly happy not to receive gifts at all, but ones I don't like send me into some sort of temper meltdown. I know it's wrong, and rude, and very unkind to the person who went to the trouble of getting me something they thought I'd like, but I just can't handle it.

Er, back on topic, for "normal" shopping I have my regular routines, and try and do it when the supermarket is less full, and I'm mostly OK with that. Going shopping for clothes is a nightmare for so many reasons I mostly do it online, though, and crowded shopping streets give me road rage, so shopping as a leisure activity is definitely not my thing.

I always have a hard time coming up with wish lists, and I have to spend hours searching for gifts for others if they don't tell me exactly what they want and where to get it.

In addition, physical shops are scary.