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Here is a list of “MUST HAVE” accessories that will help make an outfit!! Ladies – adding an accessory to your outfit – can bring an ordinary outfit to life!!

1)      The perfect purse

2)      Boots

3)      Gemstones

4)      Pearls

5)      Jewelry

6)      Handbags

7)      Scarves

8)      Hosiery

9)      Shoes & Sandals

10)  Hair Accessories

11)  Sunglasses

12)  Belts

13)  Stylish Bandana Look

14)  Create Your Own Purse

By: Emily Sohn

http://news.discovery.com/

Our ancestors didn’t shop for holiday gifts, but the way we buy may owe credit to thousands of years of evolution.

In a new study, researchers propose that our mall-visiting behaviors harken back to the days when men hunted and women foraged.

Modern men, for example, generally want to get into a store and get right back out — just like their hunting forefathers wanted to find and bring meat home as quickly as possible. On the other hand, women get back to their foraging roots by sorting through racks of sweaters on sale — as if scanning plants for signs of ripeness.

Plenty of people defy these general trends, of course, but the findings might help men and women better understand each other and limit arguments that surround shopping, said lead author Daniel Kruger, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, Mich.

His new theory could also help marketers design better stores that cater to gender differences.

“Women would want to have more things to search through and to be able to experience them, touch them, feel textures and see colors,” Kruger said. “With a guy, he knows the properties he wants. It may be more efficient to have a counter that the guy walks up to, says what he wants, and they go get that item from a storage room.”

The idea for Kruger’s new study arose from a personal experience. He and his now-wife were traveling with friends through the Czech Republic. When they arrived in Prague, the women immediately wanted to go shopping, an impulse that the men did not understand.

“We thought, ‘Why do you want to go shopping? You can go shopping anywhere. There’s a thousand years of culture here,’” he said. “They were adamant. They put their foots down. They took the credit cards and left.”

That wasn’t the end of it. When the women returned, Kruger said, they were full of joy and pride as they showed off their loot, even though many of their purchases came from a chain store that had outlets in other countries.

“For them,” he said, “It was just the thrill of the chase.”

In his new study, Kruger surveyed more than 450 college students about their shopping habits. Participants ranked their level of agreement to statements on a scale from 0 to 100.

Statements included “I can usually find my way around an unfamiliar store because I know what types of products are usually near each other;” “I sometimes remember an expensive item that I like, and go back when I know the store is having a big sale;” and one that Kruger couldn’t resist: “If I was on vacation in a foreign country, I would make sure to check out their stores.”

The results fell into the gendered trends that Kruger was expecting to find: Overall women tended to behave like foragers, and men acted like hunters. To him, that made sense.

When groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in a new place, he said, the women were eager to scope out the landscape for patches of food that they would return to again and again. Foraging was a daily and social activity, and kids often came along.

To determine whether a plant was perfectly ripe, women developed a fine attention to colors, shapes, sizes, textures and smells. All of those senses come into play when trying to find shoes that match a new dress or clothes to buy as gifts.

Seasonality was also an important part of gathering, as different foods become ripe at different times of year. The modern equivalent, Kruger speculated, are seasonal sales.

“When women go into a store and see a $200 sweater they like, but they don’t want to pay that much, they are going to save it in their memories and go back to that store later,” Kruger said. “When a guy has something specific in mind, he wants to go in, get it, and get out.”

For men, any deer was a good deer. Any meat was good meat.

“The idea that men are more motivated to hunt mobile prey over long distances suggests that the design of retail stores and shopping malls doesn’t give males enough of a challenge to make things interesting,” said Geoffrey Miller, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque and author of the book Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior. “Tracking down resistant prey is an exciting thing to a male consumer.”

Human behavioral ecologist Rebecca Bird had a different reaction to the new study.

“I think it’s ridiculous and naive to assume that there’s a gene for vegetable procurement” or for navigation through a mall, said Bird, of Stanford University in California. Context is far more important, she said, “because humans are ecologically general creatures.”

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CityDEALS is a local search provider and retailer of discount gift cards, gift certificates, and coupons for local and national brands. I am all about saving money while I shop – because that allows me to spend MORE money$$ Hehehe

What to Know Before You Buy

The holidays are getting closer and I wanted to share some tips on Clothes Shopping.

1. Have a plan

2. Set a budget

3. Start early

4. Dress for shopping

5. Shop by yourself

6. Keep a blind eye to sales and promotions

7. Accept a salesperson’s help

8. Try it on

9. Use the three-way mirror

10. Check the care tags

11. Check the return policy

The weekend is almost here! I can finally have a couple of days to go shopping! Christmas is right around the corner and I need to get going on my shopping. When shopping one of my favorite things to do is window shop. I love looking at all the new things that the stores have in their windows. Sometimes window shopping gives me the best ideas for gifts. Do U know what you are getting your friends and family this year for Christmas??

It doesn’t matter if you work or not or if you are doing shopping for some holiday or just weekly groceries, go at a time of day that the majority of your neighbors are busy.

This plan has worked marvelously for me.  I take my lunch at work around 1p.m. in the afternoon, grab some food and head to the store.   This allows me to have my own personal time at 5 when you see the parking lots at your local stores loaded to the max.   It makes me smile to myself when I have taken advantage something that most people haven’t thought of.   I recommend you doing it for just weekly shopping or getting a few things for Christmas and not having to dedicate half a day to waiting in line and fight for the last items on the shelf.