I have a confession to make: I don’t always enjoy shopping. I love fashion, and I enjoy looking at clothes and accessories in magazines, but shopping in actual stores can be a real drag sometimes. Trying to find something that fits and battling crowds can be exhausting! Luckily my common-law husband, Mr. Science, loves shopping (talk about gender role reversal!). So whenever I need new clothes, he always shops with me to keep me on task.

After observing how Mr. Science deals with me when I don’t want to shop, I’ve learned that there are several techniques to making it as painless as possible. So if you have a partner who doesn’t enjoy shopping but you love it, here’s what to do:

• Show them they need new clothes. If they keep saying the clothes they have are fine, point out all the holes in their socks, or the fact that they only have one pair of pants that they continue to wear day after day. They won’t be able to argue with the straight-up facts.
• Be positive. Get them excited for the shopping trip by reminding them how awesome it will be when they have new clothes to show off!
• Don’t take “no” for an answer. If they start complaining after going into two stores without finding any clothes, just keep pushing on. Pull clothes off the rack for them and march them into the change room if you have to.
• Give them little breaks. Sometimes they need something to motivate them. In that case, take them to a store they do like shopping at. For me, those stores are generally book stores or kitchen appliance stores. For your partner, that may be more likely to be a store selling tools 😉 Just make sure you don’t go to too many of these stores, or they’ll get sidetracked and burned out before you find the clothes you had set out to purchase!
• Decide on a reward ahead of time. Have something fun planned to do after the shopping trip – going out to the movies, attending a concert, meeting friends for drinks, making your favourite meal for dinner. That way, they’ll be excited to do that afterward and the shopping itself will seem less daunting.

Mr. Science has learned that he just needs to keep going into more and more shops if we’re going shopping together – otherwise I’ll decide within the first ten minutes that I’m done! But it’s also a good idea to stop for a hot chocolate or similar midway through to give yourself a little more energy to continue shopping. Keep those energy levels up and the shopping will be completed that much quicker!

I also prefer to shop at boutique stores, as the atmosphere is generally calmer, the clothes are more likely to fit, and overall it’s less daunting (and more stylish!) than heading to the mall.

Do you enjoy shopping? Does your partner like or dislike shopping? What tricks do you do (or have others used on you!) to motivate a shopping excursion? Share in the comments section below!