# Did You Ever Buy Something And NEVER Use It **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187 "2009-08-03T17:53:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/21 "2009-08-04T04:32:27Z")
I have some clothes I’ve never worn, although usually I’ll wear them at least a couple times. I have quite a few books I’ve bought and never read. Last year I went through my bookcases and separated out the ones I haven’t read yet. Now that I have the “to read” queue, I’m trying to not buy any more new books until I’m finished those. I often buy groceries (especially fresh fruit and veggies) that don’t get eaten. Especially bananas. I’ll buy just three or four and plan to wait for them to turn brown so I can make banana bread. Then I’m too busy or lazy, and I end up throwing them out. I could freeze them, but my freezer is already ridiculously full. > [@Caricci](#): > > I have a good amount of yarn I will probably never get to, especially sock yarn. I buy it faster than I can knit it. I have a yarn stash too, but I figure that doesn’t really count as long as I plan to use it all eventually, even if it would be hard to use it all up in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![SleepyDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/22 "2009-08-04T05:05:15Z")
Well, during a “get healthy” phase I bought, among other things, an “automatic rice cooker” which has been on the top shelf of my kitchen for about five years (and I’ve moved since then). And it has yet to make me a grain of rice! Maybe I have to take it out of the box? > [@panache45](#): > > A Bowflex machine that I will “someday” assemble. How much you want for it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/23 "2009-08-04T06:22:43Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Home haircut kit. Never could persuade my wife to take a whack at it. Poor word choice, I’m guessing. At least ten percent of the DVDs I’ve bought are still in their wrappers. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/24 "2009-08-04T07:10:07Z")
Several video games. I have every intent to try them out, because they look so cool… but then I run out of time, and forget they exist, and then they just gather dust. I haven’t played a video game at all in about two years. Last week I even downloaded the free level of the new _Monkey Island_ game, and haven’t installed it yet. ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/25 "2009-08-04T07:25:28Z")
Netflix banks on people like me. The movie sits reproachfully on the coffee table for 2 weeks until I give in to the inevitable and mail it back for another one I never have time or am in the mood to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/26 "2009-08-04T07:29:56Z")
A can of stuff to put on my hardwood floors–$50. Then I realized it had to dry for 72 hours. Then it occurred to me that I couldn’t put it on if there was furniture in the room, so I’d have to put the furniture somewhere else. Then I figured I would wait until I moved and do it then. But by the time I moved, I had already sold the house–let them finish their own damn floors. So I brought it to the new house, with great plans of fixing up the floors before we got too much furniture in there. Well, it’s still sitting there, it’s been 5 years. I don’t know if the stuff is even any good. Does Varathane go bad? Oh, and the cashmere hot pants. Originally $80, marked down to $3. So, they’re shorts. But they’re cashmere, so they’re _very warm._ (Well duh, what part of “hot pants” didn’t I get?) But there’s not much of them, so part of me would be warm, but the rest of me would be–oh hell, Maybe I can make a mitten out of them. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/27 "2009-08-04T07:31:32Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > I bought a Pilates machine from QVC once. (I was drunk!) My husband set it up and used it once or twice. I didn’t. It’s up in the attic now. Maybe some day … I’ll trade you for an unopened can of Varathane. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/28 "2009-08-04T09:11:18Z")
I haven’t even unwrapped my copy of XBox360 Assassin Creed yet. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/29 "2009-08-04T09:20:25Z")
I’ve amassed quite a stash of fabric over the years. The oldest is probably some lengths of gabardine purchased in 1971. Not to say I’ll never use it, but I haven’t yet. I also go through phases of buying a lot of different kinds of books and then the phase ends and the books don’t get read. I haven’t gotten rid of them, though, because the urge might come back. And my rice cooker, bought about a year ago, is still in the box somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/30 "2009-08-04T09:26:14Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Originally $80, marked down to $3. So, they’re shorts. Three dollars for cashmere? Wow, some cat would like that I’ll bet ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/31 "2009-08-04T14:37:27Z")
God, where to begin? Several years ago, I bought a bolt of heavy cloth with dog bones printed on it; I was going to have a friend make dog beds out of it (I don’t have a sewing machine). O paid for the materials, she was gona do the work,and we’d sell them and split the profit. It’s still in my closet. I bought a $20 track phine at WalMart last summer. I opened it at work to look at it and charge it. Got it home that evening and went to activate it… I had lost the receipt at work, which was needed for the code to activate it. I called, they couldn’t help me. I tried to take it back to WalMart… they wouldn’t take it back without the reciept. So it’s still in the same bag, hanging on my coat rack, useless. Never used. $20 phine and a $20 minute card. _sigh_ Various clothes bought off eBay that didn’t fit when I got them. GOBS of craft stuff I bought with the good intentions of being crafty with it… and they sit in boxes unused. Tons more, I know. But that’s a start. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/32 "2009-08-04T14:39:40Z")
> [@jellyblue](#): > > Netflix banks on people like me. The movie sits reproachfully on the coffee table for 2 weeks until I give in to the inevitable and mail it back for another one I never have time or am in the mood to watch. I just mailed back two movies I’ve had since last August. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/33 "2009-08-04T15:53:42Z")
Like others upthread, I have lots of fabric in my stash, and lots of cross-stitch projects that I may get to before I die, but I doubt it. However, I blame the fabric stash stuff on my mom, who is a firm believer in ‘she who dies with the most fabric wins’. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/34 "2009-08-04T16:08:03Z")
> [@jellyblue](#): > > Netflix banks on people like me. The movie sits reproachfully on the coffee table for 2 weeks until I give in to the inevitable and mail it back for another one I never have time or am in the mood to watch. People like you? Try people like me. My record is somewhere between 18 months and 2 years. And, y’know, they didn’t even bat an eyelash. My \*average \*is in months, not weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/35 "2009-08-04T16:10:13Z")
Whenever I have a major operation I know I’ll 4-6 weeks recovery and so I “start” a new hobby. By that I mean that I buy all the prep stuff so that while I am recovering I will have something to learn/do and keep me entertained. Each time I end up leaving it all in the package. The pain meds and the after-op depression usually keeps me from mustering the concentration/energy to start something. So yes, I have several things. Off he top of my head I know I was going to start drawing, I was going to learn the harmonica, learn the piano. No doubt there are others. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/36 "2009-08-04T16:19:08Z")
A few years ago I bought a crab pot, bouy, and line. Also got a crabbing license. It’s never been wet. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/37 "2009-08-04T16:19:41Z")
Well, I bought a clue once. Hasn’t worked out. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/38 "2009-08-04T16:23:31Z")
I have a number of DVDs in my collection of movies that I’ve seen in the theater, on cable, or as a rental, subsequently purchased, and then never gave my purchased disc a spin. ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/39 "2009-08-04T17:04:06Z")
> [@KSO](#): > > I just mailed back two movies I’ve had since last August. I can’t tell you how much better that makes me feel :D. And Harriet the Spry, too. Maybe I’ll actually pop in “The Wrestler” tonight… Nah. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187/40 "2009-08-04T17:07:53Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > I bought a Pilates machine from QVC once. (I was drunk!) My husband set it up and used it once or twice. I didn’t. It’s up in the attic now. Maybe some day … I’ll take that, if you want to find a new home for it 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-something-and-never-use-it/505187.md?page=3)