Would you sooner have a root canal than pay full price? Do you hide new shoes from your husband? If you budget at all (a lot of us don't), how do you divide the pie? Here's the bottom line according to our women-on-the-street confessionals and exclusive online reader poll:

• 38 percent of O readers say, "I shop only when I absolutely have to"
• 28 percent hit the stores once a week or more
• 56 percent shop online (suuure you're only browsing the Web on your lunch hour...)
• 59 percent shop without a budget, though 31 percent say they "sorely need one"
• 22 percent of respondents say that shopping has put them into debt
• 1 percent spent more than $10,000 on clothing last year
• 64 percent come prepared with a checklist before a shopping excursion
• 41 percent say that $50 is the most they would ever spend on a pair of shoes
• 6 percent would spend $500 or more on a pair
• 3 percent think that salesclerks really know their stuff
• 33 percent flat-out refuse to buy something that isn't marked down
• 69 percent say $50 is the most they would ever spend on a handbag
• 4 percent are willing to spend more than $1,000 on one
• 50 percent say they fib about an item's cost or hide new purchases from their spouse
• 51 percent believe in retail therapy
• 49 percent say, "Buying things can't fix what's bothering me"
• 38 percent spend money on clothes for their family faster than for themselves
• 62 percent say, "We all deserve new things every once in a while"