On occasion, Olivia's* credit card statement has been ripped into tiny pieces and soaked in water before being thrown in the bin. The boot of her car is used to smuggle purchases into the house and her cupboard overflows with shoes her husband knows nothing about.
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These are just some of the tricks the successful professional employs to keep her husband from finding out about her latest purchases.
Andrew* rents a spare barn on a farmer's property. He keeps vintage cars in the shed unbeknown to his wife - the scale of his secret hobby exceeds $500,000.
With Australians spending $10 billion on online retail purchases last year, psychologists are warning about the rise and cost of secret spending.
Olivia and Andrew's sprees always start in front of a tablet or computer and, according to Don Byrne, director of the Australian National University research school of psychology, our love affair with online spending puts us at risk. Professor Byrne says people often spend more than they can afford or more than they intend.
''It removes one level of reality … It removes the tangible object … in that you don't have the item straight away and it's not real money, as it's usually a credit card purchase,'' he says.
For Olivia, getting new goods back into the house can take weeks. The items are left in the boot of the car before being clandestinely placed in the back of the wardrobe.
Online purchases are planned with military precision - timed to arrive while the husband is away on business or sometimes sent to friends' homes, with other women in on the gig of dropping off ''old'' clothes that no longer fit. Scuffing the soles of new shoes so they look worn or throwing new items in the laundry basket so the first time the partner sees them is on the washing line are also common manoeuvres.
But the art of stealth shopping is not only a feminine trait.
John* bought a new road bike wheel. It was sent to David's* workplace. David dropped it in his friend's garage before joining the unsuspecting wife and her husband for lunch. He feels no guilt - it is all part of the ''brotherhood''.
Two other men tell their wives the same lie - the spare bike hanging in the garage is really a friend's but it is being kept a secret from the other wife as she does not understand.
And Julian* traded in his Honda motorcycle for a custom-built Harley-Davidson. The $35,000 purchase was hidden in plain sight under a dust sheet in the garage. His ruse came undone with a rookie mistake - the old motorcycle was red and the new one was black.
Julian's relationship survived his duplicity and, according to Ross Wilkinson, a senior lecturer at the Australian National University school of psychology, subterfuge is not always a bad thing.
Dr Wilkinson says everyone has secrets from their partner but the cost to the relationship depends on the degree of deception and what the couple can afford.
"There is a bit of a myth that everyone has to be totally open in relationships about every possible thing and everything they do, but sometimes that is not necessarily a good thing,'' he says.
"Some information can be damaging to a relationship and it's probably not necessary, while the open-slather idea is unrealistic in a modern world.''
Dr Wilkinson says a few handbags here and there are not a worry in the scheme of things but big purchases could damage trust in a relationship.
And he warns that if your partner has a meltdown over your new Jimmy Choo shoes or carbon-fibre bike, the argument could be a symptom of something else.
''Couples often get into really big arguments about small things but they usually get used as proxies for bigger problems in the relationship,'' he says.
"It could start as an argument about, 'You've spent this money without telling me,' but it could be code for, 'I don't feel you pull your weight in the relationship.'''
When shopping, or lying about it, gets out of control, Dr Wilkinson says the best thing to do is come clean. But he says those conversations need to be handled sensitively otherwise people get defensive and think, "It's my right, I earned all the money.''
He says finances are, and probably always will be, the main cause of conflicts in relationships.
*Names have been changed to protect marriages.
