Shop ‘til you drop! Image by Thibault Renard. Source: Getty Images

Everyone shops but many people don’t know how. Men and women shop differently. If you want to stay within your budget and live a quality life, shopping well is an essential skill to have.

Our ancestors didn’t shop
When humans were still living in caves, men went out to hunt and women stayed closer to home gathering nuts and berries, wood, water, and other useful items for the family and the tribe. In the modern world we don’t find our sustenance directly, but rather work for a wage to earn money, a proxy for value, which we then use to shop for what we need.

Spearfishing at the mall
When men shop, they still hunt. Men go into a store to find what they need, spear it, so to speak, and take it to the check out counter. Since men no longer “hunt” for what they need in groups, they detest shopping, as they must do it alone. The modern-day hunter in the store is atomized and no longer has his mannerbund with which to enjoy the hunt and build camaraderie. Instead, he must face the sterile lights and unlimited choice of the modern store alone, inundated with dangerous ads trying to tell him what he wants, which isn’t what he needs.

Hostile environment
These days he is even propagandized politically in the store with ads featuring foreign tribes with strange and harmful customs and tastes. It is no surprise that he navigates this chaotic and unpleasant environment with efficiency, always keeping his sights on his prey. Men now mostly buy tools to build things, as women have taken over the shopping for food, obviating the real hunt. With no real hunt, and no hunting party, it is not surprising that shopping is men’s least favorite thing to do, aside from coming along to watch their wives shop.

Looking for a bargain
Women on the other hand love shopping, as it hasn’t changed that much from the good ol’ days of cave living. Modern day shopping is like gathering. Unlike men, women browse around looking for “deals” and items they can bring back to the cave to improve comfort and quality of life. You never know where you might find that new berry bush, or that fallen tree for firewood, or those herbs that help with a fever or a stomachache. In addition to these necessities, women want to make the cave and themselves more attractive.

Modernity has given us an unlimited choice of useful and useless things, and it is this sea of options that delights women, as it allows them to use and hone their gathering skills and make their cave and family both healthy and happy, as they compete with Mrs. Jones down the street for status.

Looking good
Both women and men buy a lot of unnecessary things. For vanity’s sake, women buy too many clothes and too much make up and personal care products. But can you really blame them? Their market value in the sexual (read: reproductive) marketplace depends on them looking good. The fashion industry means they have to change their look regularly to fit the style of the day. The advent of prêt-à-porter, or ready-to-wear clothes, has accelerated this constant changing of style to be “with it.” This means lots of “gathering” and looking for bargains and little gems.

Shopping for a better life
Women are always gathering, or shopping, even if they don’t buy anything. They are always socializing, looking for information, and keeping their eyes open for novelty and anything that can give them an edge over other women. Men have always ogled women, but women also constantly shop for men, until they find a good one. Tinder and other online apps allow them to both show off while also browsing an endless supply of men. The reverse is also true, but dating apps, like everything else in our modern commercial world, is designed for women, because women like to and must shop, while men dislike shopping and do so only out of necessity. Regardless of whether men are bringing home the bacon, or it is a two-income household, women hold the purse strings of the family budget and do the shopping. As a result, few are the men who can shop well.

Tools vs. gadgets
Men like to shop for tools and gadgets. A tool is something necessary to execute an action or complete a task, a gadget can be a tool that makes doing something easier but is not essential. The difference between the price of one item and the other, is often in the features, or gadgets, contained in what is being purchased. For example, a BBQ that also has burner or a rotisserie attachment. Both are cool to have, but are they necessary? How often to you make a rotisserie chicken on the grill? Does it warrant the upgrade? Do you really need a burner, or can you use the kitchen stove? Men use gadgets to compete with each other for status. It is about having the best grill or the fanciest car in the neighbourhood. Men need to not get carried away with showing off for other men. Women need to do the same with each other. Understanding this is the key to being a good shopper.

Selling the dream
When I talk about good shopping, I mean getting the best deal for the money based on quality and real need. The advertising industry exists to convince you otherwise. Contrary to the images and narratives presented on TV, the internet, billboards, magazines, and the promises made, your new (insert item here) is not going to make you endlessly, deliriously happy, give you new friends, or transport you to some exciting event or location where you are the star with and because of your new product.

What the ad industry does to men and women alike, aside from lie to us, is hijack our primal instincts for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and ultimately safety, and layer upon them a desire for excess. The key to good shopping is to shop within your means, so that you can save money for a rainy day.

Too much stuff
Modern consumer society is based on excess. Corporations make money on you buying more than you need. With appliances, there is clearly a limit. You only need one stove, washer, drier, dishwasher, grill, etc. But aside from this, there is no limit to the number of gadgets or clothes you can buy. As for mobile phone, computers, TVs, or cars, they are always bringing out the next model with upgrades, more bells and whistles, or a new design.

The road to hell is paved with conspicuous consumption
What matters is that your peers can see that you have the latest version. While in our “primitive” past status was based on performance, i.e. being a good hunter, today it is based on appearing to be a good hunter via conspicuous consumption. If the goal is only to appear be successful, which requires no merit, then in an atomized society the moral and ethical codes that regulate our behaviour become superfluous and disappear. Theft of one form or another, and by any means possible, becomes the cultural norm.

It's all cheap
Meanwhile, even as we buy more, the quality of the things we buy declines. For decades now, governments have been stimulating the economy by encouraging consumption via debt, or the printing of money not backed by real value. Too much liquidity, or money, in the system means that everything is devalued, this includes not only good and services, but work itself, as your money is worth less and buys less.

Inflation aside, it can appear as if you are still getting the same things you need or want, but in truth the quality has declined. Money printing worked for a while, allowing ordinary people to live in material excess that was only possible for the wealthy in the past. As the real productive economy was cannibalized to keep the illusion going, quality was sacrificed. Our possessions still looked the same, they just fell apart or broke quickly, and couldn’t be fixed. Part of this has to do with the constant degradation of materials as natural resources are used up and substituted with lower quality replacements or synthetics; and part of is planned obsolescence, or the deliberate engineering of products to decay prematurely, so that you have to buy a replacement sooner.

Greenwashing
Our consumer world consists primarily of petroleum products. Through overconsumption we are drowning and being poisoned by plastic. Lately corporations seem to have developed an environmental conscience, as they harp on about climate change and push environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) as a solution. And while some companies are trying to use better materials and eliminate waste from their value chains (which should be a no-brainer), it is curious to note that they never tell you to buy less, even though most people already have everything they need. The fact is we’ve reached peak stuff. In the developed world, even the poor have cell phones and eat three meals a day, due to government subsidies, or debt money printing.

The impossibility of a self-licking ice cream cone
Much as shopping well is about living within your means at an individual and family level, governments also need to shop well, in this case by stopping the Keynesian subsidy train based on fake money. By eliminating subsidies there will be less consumption and more production. It’s that simple.

Nearly all the socioeconomic problems Western governments have is related to tax and spend economics. A system based on increasingly taxing productive people to redistribute their money on social programs for special interest groups who don’t produce, is a recipe for societal collapse. We’re living it now.

Step aside.gov
Government needs to get out of the way and let people pursue they own economic interest via free trade, free association, and free speech. This is the foundation of the West’s success. Economies need to be created from the local level outward, and not to suit the top-down ideological agenda of a distant federal government or global system.

Going to the market
The most important shopping you can do is shopping for food. Here are some quick tips for shopping well:
 

1. Never go to the store hungry.
 

2. Focus your shopping and diet on staples, i.e. rice, pasta, beans, potatoes. Plan your meals out from this.
 

3. Look out for what’s on sale, and substitute this for something you would normally buy in the same category.
 

4. Don’t buy too much produce, as it will rot and go to waste.
 

5. Buy in bulk if it makes sense. For example, if you use a lot of olive oil go for the gallon jug, instead of the overpriced liter bottle.
 

6. Always check the per ounce price and buy accordingly.
 

7. Substitute one brand for a another cheaper one if the quality is similar.
 

8. Plan a weekly dinner menu. This will ensure that you don’t run out of meals and have to spontaneously eat out. One meal out can kill your weekly food budget.
 

9. Vary your protein according to what’s available and on offer. Do you usually buy one type of fish or cut of meat? How about trying a different one that’s on sale?
 

10. Don’t buy junk food and avoid processed food. It costs more and is less healthy.
 

11. Eat your leftovers.
 

12. Don’t live like a monk. Treat yourself every now and again to give a little boost to your day.

Final word
Good shopping is about living within your means, buying only what you need, not getting fooled by advertising, not trying to please others, or competing with your peers; and keeping track of your expenses so that you can save for a rainy day. The benefits of not overconsuming are manifold. You will be psychologically healthier if you don’t base your self-worth on what you own, as opposed to what you achieve. You will save money that can be put to better use. You will be doing your part in reducing your contribution to a landfill economy based on debt. You will also have less stuff to worry about and therefor more freedom. It’s not about what we buy or own, it’s about our ability to manage our resources well so that we can create and contribute. Don’t be a consumer, be a producer.
 

If you enjoyed this post, consider leaving a tip.
Thanks for reading.

Home