The magazine's ShopSmart Opinion Poll reports that 76 percent of American women enjoy shopping, and the average woman spends 7.4 hours per week (or 385 hours annually) shopping. One-third of those polled say the most stressful part of shopping is waiting in checkout lines, followed closely by interacting with salespeople (29 percent). That's for sure! We are learning to say a mantra while we wait. The survey found that 87 percent of women say getting the best price remains the most important thing, and only one out of four would rather save time than save money. Overall, 95 percent of women purchased a common non-grocery product or service over the past three months. The most popular item was clothing (77 percent), followed by shoes (58 percent), cosmetics (56 percent), and vitamins or supplements (52 percent). This sounds about right to me. The poll finds that as the primary shoppers for their families, a majority of American women find the best bargains at discount department stores like Wal-Mart and Target (57 percent). Surprisingly, few women felt that the best deals were to be had on the Web (17 percent), and even fewer for outlet stores/malls (11 percent), other discount stores (9 percent) like T.J Maxx or Marshalls, and big-box stores (8 percent) like Costco or Sam's Club.

Now get this: While price is an important consideration with shopping, price is least important when purchasing lingerie (56 percent), sporting goods (55 percent), auto repair (53 percent), vitamins or supplements (53 percent), and cosmetics (51 percent). This also sound right on target, at least for me.

However, a significant number of women said that price is key when purchasing clothing/groceries (72 percent); travel (70 percent); and house wares/small appliances (69 percent). Cautious about outside shopping advice, shoppers rely mostly on friends and family (45 percent) as trusted sources for shopping and products to avoid buyer's remorse. (Gotta love that word-of-mouth marketing). The least trusted sources of shopping advice were salespeople (39 percent) and advertising (31 percent).

The Consumer Reports National Research Center administered the survey online to 1,264 random women May 22-24, 2006. Among those women, the median age was 43 years old; 43 percent had at least a four-year college degree and earned a median income of $54,400. Overall, 60 percent of the women were married.