Ouch: data on female shopping trends

Mint has an excellent list inspired by data about how women v. men shop and what you can do to rein some of that wild spending in.

[Haha on use of "eve-olution" re: marketing]

You'll also enjoy the hilarious pictures.

my quick comments on each Mint bullet:

1. I agree on bypassing outlandishly priced beauty products. I've talked about it before here.

2. Organic food is a luxury item. It's not worth it unless the quality is decidedly better - on most things I find that it's not. My sister, a nutritionist, says milk and coffee are the two things you really want to buy organic because of the transfer of chemicals (is that right Ruth?). Buying local is a great idea if it's available, both for quality and price.

3. I disagree on this point. Stick to energy bars that have lots of PROTEIN - they're worth the $1-$2 a piece as a meal replacement or a healthy snack between lunch and dinner. You can never go wrong with extra protein.

4. I'll only repeat the adage: the lottery is a tax on dumb people. also known as a tax on the poor.

5. Pets are totally worth their cost in exchange for the pleasure they provide but for god's sake, don't buy them organic cookies from a doggie bakery or put wrapped Christmas presents under the tree for them.

6. On clothes - simply never pay full price. This will be a persistent theme on ChaChing.