Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

to think it is a bit weird when women shop for their husband's clothes?

78 replies

TheEvilDead2 · 30/10/2010 11:03

as well as pack for them for holidays, business trips etc?

I have a few friends who do this... my DH would never trust me to do all his clothes shopping for him (and frankly I couldn't be arsed). And holiday packing and stuff like that... isn't it akward when someone else does your packing?

I wouldn't let Dh pack my suitcase. Christ knows what I'd find it in it.

OP posts:

senua · 30/10/2010 12:13

Some women buy their DH's clothes becuase they are colour-blind and cannot colour co-ordinate. They even have to lay the clothes out for them in the morning because, for e.g., they cannot tell which tie goes with which shirt.

PavlovtheWitchesCat · 30/10/2010 12:16

i but clothes for DH much of the time otherwise he would wear his clothes until they fell off him due to holes. He hates shopping and buys the first thing he sees in the first shop he goes into and is never happy with what he has. I know what he likes so buy it to please him not what I like necessarily (although i do weed out some rubbish he might otherwise consider, perk of doing it for him imo). I will be happy to take it back if the wrong size/he does not like it, must rarely that happens.

I pack most of his clothes when we go on holiday, as otherwise he would chuck it all in and take up so much room with the random things he takes we need two suitcases instead of the one I can get it all into (not the children's obviously). He is happy as it gives him time to make sure he has the important stuff like ipod charger, books etc. He checks that I have packed stuff he really wants like x t-shirt, and accepts that if I miss something out its not my fault.

Busines - rarely happens but if he did, he would do that himself.

togarama · 30/10/2010 12:16

I shop online for DH's clothes because he has no interest and would happily wear smelly clothes with holes in.

As I would prefer him to remain in gainful employment, and not be mistaken for his social worker / carer / probation officer, a bit of pointing and clicking twice a year is a small price to pay. I buy most of my own clothes online too so can just do the lot at the same time.

Wouldn't pack for him, fold or iron clothes etc..

duvetcover · 30/10/2010 12:25

WingDad... it's not so hard once you get a sense of her shape, size and style. She doesn't know this but I know that she books best in autumn colours even though she secretly thinks she's a winter person. I have been surreptitiously planting warm yellows and browns in her wardrobe for a few years now, it really works on her :)

chitchat09 · 30/10/2010 12:25

My DH buys his clothes, but if I left it to him his pants and socks would be in tatters!

I also pack for him, but given that his business trips happen in weeks where he doesn't get home before 9.00 pm on any night, and leaves to fly out at 5.00 am in the morning, I kinda think it's nice to help out!

Besides, how hard is it to pack a business wardrobe for a man? A suit, some shirts with ties to match, shoes to match (most of them are black, anyway!!!) add some jeans and a casual shirt and blazer for casual wear (and a swim shorts if the hotel has a pool) and you're done! Now a women's wardrobe - Well if it's this suit then that only goes with these shoes, and this blouse/shirt doesn't match that jacket, it only matches this one. This dress can also be worn, but it's a bit too casual/formal for this type of meeting, yadda, yadda, yadda. I mean, seriously!!!!!

girlywhirly · 30/10/2010 15:02

DH and I mostly look at clothes together, as he says he likes a second opinion. If I see something I think he would like when we're not together, I tell him about it so that he can see for himself. He says I am good at spotting bargains in sales! The only problem we have is that he keeps acquiring new stuff, and not parting with the old, especially tops. I have had to gently encourage wornout socks towards the bin.

I usually do packing, but only for neatness. DH chooses what he wants to take, and I pack it. I have shown him how to fold shirts to avoid much creasing in a hand luggage bag, as he used to have quite a few meetings abroad, needing an overnight stay.

streaksofbloodonthebaconslicer · 30/10/2010 15:14

Erm, other way round here.

I hate shopping for clothes and dh gets all of mine for me. Even boots/trainers etc. He's good at it too, knows what I like/suit better than I do if I'm honest.

We each pack our own holiday bags though.

He even does furniture shopping . He just tells me when the new settees are coming and hey presto - they do!

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 30/10/2010 15:54

I buy DH's clothes 90% of the time, except suits. He has no time to go to the shops, and because I'm not keen on shopping either we don't consider going into town for a wander round the shops as a valid use of our weekends together - more like a vision of hell!

So I buy things for him when I am shopping during the week when it's quieter.

For holidays we pack together, and I will remind him about things like pjs and swimmers, but apart from that he sorts his own stuff out.
If he is going away with work then he packs for himself, although I would probably loiter and remind him about pjs (again!) as that is what he tends to forget :)

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 30/10/2010 15:59

I have always bought for my DS - though quite a bit online and I consult him first. Not suits though or obvviously shoes.

Used to do the packing when I was A SAHM and he travelled an awful lot. Now I work outside the home too, he does his own,

takingchances · 30/10/2010 16:07

DH has panic attacks when he goes into a shop. I don't know if this is due to the crowds, or sensory overload (loud music, loads of colours etc), or because he is about to spend money.
Either way, I either help him buy clothes at non-busy times, or pick stuff up for him when I'm out and about.
I do not pack his bags but I tell him what goes with what because he has ZERO fashion sense. I mean we are looking at a navy suit with pink shirt and yellow tie with blue print on it. Very very very bad.
Yesterday we went to the shops and he was wearing a navy, red and green striped polo t-shirt with a grey chunky jumper over it, khaki coloured cords and beige slip on shoes. I did NOT pass comment but honestly it was desperate.

mitochondria · 30/10/2010 16:56

Mine hates shopping. Having been shopping with MIL, I fully understand why (she takes hours to decide not to buy something).

So - I do sometimes buy things for him, otherwise he wouldn't bother, and would be another one wandering around in worn out clothes.

He did buy himself a top last week. I was most impressed.

I don't pack for him. This leads to many disasters - such as the time we went away without contact lenses and had to find an emergency optician (he wears daily disposables and didn't pack his glasses either, can't see properly without). Or the many times we've had to buy pants as he didn't pack enough (this isn't hard, surely - count how many days you'll be away for and pack that number of pants?) - or the time he didn't take a jumper (we were going to Whitby).

I still don't pack for him though.

Rosieeo · 30/10/2010 17:00

I buy DH's clothes. If I didn't, he would look like a tramp; he just doesn't care about clothes.

If we're going away together I pack. If he's on his own, he can suit himself - I don't have to be seen with him after all.

weblette · 30/10/2010 17:02

Another with a shopping-phobic dh. He is very easy to buy for, his shape never changes, he wears very classic stuff so it's no bother to chuck in an extra shirt/jumper if I'm buying for the dcs. He will buy jackets/suits though.

WRT packing, I pack for everyone while he keeps the dcs entertained. If he's on a business trip he does manage to do it for himself!

onceamai · 30/10/2010 17:05

He buys suits and shoes. I tried to get him to pack in the early days - recall the holiday when he took 6 sweaters to Corfu and the one to Cornwall when he packed one pair of pants and two t shirts!

HecateQueenOfWitches · 30/10/2010 18:04

I buy my husband's clothes - casual clothes, he buys his own suits and stuff - because if I didn't, he'd go out looking like this

He's great with formal wear but my god he cannot be allowed out alone to buy casual wear.

ffs, he loves these things!

He has a court order prohibiting him from unaccompanied shopping trips.

Caoimhe · 30/10/2010 18:11

I've never bought one item of clothing for my dh - not ever!

Yes his choices aren't great and he wears things to death but so what? He can wear what he likes - it is none of my business! I'm not responsible for how he looks.

Gay40 · 30/10/2010 18:13

Creepy. It's like the husbands are silly children who can't keep themselves neat and smart without their wife having a say in it.
Utterly utterly pathetic, whatever the justification.

bobblemeat · 30/10/2010 18:18

I think its nice when people use thier strenghs to help each other out in a relationship and its unnecessary to get all freudian about it. I don't give a shit about clothes and I hate shopping so its nice for me that DH is a teenage girl in the body of a middle aged man.

As for letting someone else do your packing, I could never relinquish that much control.

Caoimhe · 30/10/2010 18:20

I hate shopping, dh hates shopping - guess we are a bit stuck then!

IvantaOuiOui · 30/10/2010 18:24

My husband has zero interest in clothes, as long as it's warm and he hasn't spilled too much dinner down it, he's happy. He's 37 and still wears tshirts and pants he wore at university. If he needs a new jumper, I get him one for Christmas. He packs for himself. My mother is a total control freak and has always shopped for and chosen my dads clothes. He is not even allowed to choose what to wear when they go out. And he loves it.

HecateQueenOfWitches · 30/10/2010 18:25

I agree with you 100%, bobble. It's nice to contribute those things to each other that you are good at and the other not so much

There's loads of stuff Himself helps me with - social skills being the main one.

Patch66 · 30/10/2010 23:41

Don't shop for my dh but dsil buys all her dh's clothes, packs his stuff for holidays, gets his food for him at buffet meals ... Quite unbelievable.

octopusinabox · 30/10/2010 23:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KristinaM · 31/10/2010 00:05

mine would be a total scruff bag if i didnt take him out and make him choose clothes. i have given up on what he wears around the house but I do need him to look smart at work

i care, he doesn't. simple as that really

its the same reason that he buys all the new phones / computers/ electronic gadgets

maktaitai · 31/10/2010 00:18

DH would look OK without my input (apart from his early belief that he could wear 33inch inside leg trousers - he needs 35 inch) but it's a pleasure to me to buy him something to wear from time to time. No stress.

Flip

1 2 3 4