Amazon Purchases You Didn't Open for Months

The box is by the door. The box has been by the door. The box lives there now.

Entries
10
Category
Stuff
Updated
  1. A sealed supplement jar with its foil safety seal intact on a kitchen counter, sun moving across it.

    10. Supplements

    Magnesium, collagen, a powdered mushroom with good reviews. It arrived and went straight onto the counter, where it has been sitting sealed ever since. Owning it feels like a start.

  2. A sealed box on a basement shelf under a single bare bulb that has burned out.

    09. A Twelve-Pack of Light Bulbs

    Bought because one bulb went out. You replaced it with the bulb from the guest-room lamp, and the twelve-pack went to the basement. Every bulb in the house will burn out before you remember it.

  3. A sealed shipping box in a closet with a loose ribbon and a roll of wrapping paper resting on it.

    08. A Gift for a Birthday That Already Happened

    Ordered early, a win. It went in the closet so you wouldn't forget it, and you forgot it. The birthday passed with a card. Now it's for next year, or Christmas, or a different person entirely.

  4. A tangle of black cables behind a TV stand with a small unopened shipping box sitting right on top of the tangle.

    07. A Cable Organizer

    Velcro straps and a little box to hide the mess behind the TV. The shipping box sits on top of the mess behind the TV, adding to it.

  5. A long flat sealed box leaning against a wall behind a desk with a laptop, a desk lamp glowing beside it.

    06. A Ring Light

    For looking better on video calls. It came in a long box that got leaned against the wall behind the desk. You've since done countless video calls lit by a window and a lamp.

  6. A dark bedroom lit by a phone screen glow on the pillow, a small sealed package on the dresser across the room.

    05. Blue Light Glasses

    Bought after one article about screens and sleep. Still in the mailer. You read that article on your phone, in bed, with the glasses six feet away in a box.

  7. Three unopened cardboard book mailers stacked on a nightstand beside a lamp and a phone charging.

    04. A Book About Habits

    A book about building better habits, still in its shipping envelope. The irony isn't lost on you. It's under two more books you also ordered, stacked on the nightstand, also in their envelopes.

  8. A small sealed shipping box on top of a refrigerator, a corner of colorful elastic bands showing through a torn flap.

    03. Resistance Bands

    Five colors, a door anchor, a pouch and a poster of exercises. They arrived the week of the resolution and went on top of the fridge to get to later. They are the most rested bands in the country.

  9. A small sealed cube-shaped box on a hall closet shelf between a flashlight and a stack of towels.

    02. Echo Dot

    Amazon · 2016

    Amazon introduced it in March 2016, and in 2017 even ran a promotion knocking the entire price off for Prime members. You bought yours on a deal day because it was barely money. It's in the hall closet, sealed, hearing nothing.

  10. A sealed padded mailer on a table next to a cracked phone face down and a brand-new phone box.

    01. A Phone Case for a Phone You Replaced

    It arrived two days after the phone it was for slipped out of your hand in a parking lot. New phone, different model. The case is still in its padded mailer, perfectly protecting a phone that no longer exists.

Honorable mentions

  • A cylindrical fridge water filter half out of its box in a pantry, a small red indicator light glowing on the fridge beyond.

    Replacement Water Filter

    Ordered on a subscription you forgot about. Months later the fridge light went red and you remembered the box in the pantry. Never has past you done more for present you. This is what it was for.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A small taped-up cardboard box alone on an entryway shelf, slightly crushed at one corner.

    Something You Don't Remember Ordering

    A small box, your name on the label, no idea. You don't open it, because finding out would mean dealing with it. It sits on the shelf by the door. Sometimes you pick it up and shake it. It rattles a little.

Every list.
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