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My Mate Bought a Toaster - Mumsnet edition

14 replies

Bjorkdidit · 01/12/2024 06:32

For those of you unfamiliar, there's a podcast where (mostly) comedians talk about their Amazon purchase history and how this reflects their stages of life at the time, which is quite entertaining.

It's also an interesting look at recent social history and how things have changed, even over the last 10-20 years.

https://toasterpod.com/

This inspired me to look at my own Amazon purchase history (this is a fun thread, lets not derail it about how Amazon are evil and responsible for everything that is wrong with the world).

First order - 2002, a couple of books. In the early years (and the days before streaming), I also bought a load of box set DVDs of shows like 24, Six Feet Under and the West Wing. We binge watched them and sold them on eBay afterwards, often bizarrely for more than they were available new.

In 2004 I bought some Tefal pans that we're still using today and are still in great condition despite being used a few times a week.

There's a load of stuff I have no memory of buying such as in December 2005 a book called 'Knitting for Dogs' which I can only assume was a Christmas gift for either DM or MIL, both of whom knit and have dogs.

The early 2000s carried on with a small number of orders a year (around 10) mostly books and DVDs. I think that was pretty much what they sold at the time, rather than everything.

Then in 2011 I got a Kindle and it shot up to 107 orders because I then started buying all the books I wanted when they were on offer for 99 p. I've now carried on with this despite having more books than I'll ever read in a lifetime because I still want all the books.

Anyone else?

Toaster Pod Website

The website of Tom Price's podcast My Mate Bought a Toaster. Celebrity Amazon Life Stories told through their purchase histories.

https://toasterpod.com

OP posts:
Sofa1000 · 01/12/2024 07:09

Fun. Mine goes back to 2008 November when I was obviously buying Christmas presents for my three who are adults now.
I also bought this book:

Gill Holcombe
How to feed your whole family a healthy, balanced diet with very little money

I still have the book and it was great. A real snapshot of my life then when we were broke.

Gill Holcombe: books, biography, latest update

Follow Gill Holcombe and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com's Gill Holcombe Author Page.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gill-Holcombe/e/B0034IL3YC/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum--chat-5221248-my-mate-bought-a-toaster-mumsnet-edition

Sofa1000 · 01/12/2024 07:10

Not sure why that turned into an advert for that author’s stuff!

TyneFilth · 01/12/2024 10:41

My very first order looks like it was for Christmas 2006. A book for my boyfriend at the time, and 4 CDs that I can't now place who they'd each be for (except the Bernstein which is definitely my mum). What a weird snapshot of life! I bought about 6 things each year until 2010 when it roughly tripled, mainly baby stuff.

Then my Amazon account became 'our' Amazon account in 2011 when the first electronics/cables start appearing in the purchase history alongside the jolly phonics and bath toys. We're still using a cafetiere and butter dish we bought in 2012, alongside the first book about decluttering. From 2013-2015 we regularly buy decaf coffee through Amazon (did they not sell it in the supermarket ?) and we bulk buy nappies. But 2024 had been all computer bits/cables/cable management , bike maintenance, and interesting booze (roughly 125 items in 11 months 😮). There's an AI therapist somewhere deep in Amazon's server brain thinking "where did TyneFilth's music-listening, military history-reading life go?"

My Mate Bought a Toaster - Mumsnet edition

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Justleaveitblankthen · 01/12/2024 14:46

Great thread 🍿
2010 seems to be my first order.
Skechers women's shape ups. They were a sort of roller platform Trainer that purported to shape your legs and flutes as you walked.
Simple as that 😂

I do know that they made me taller than my teeny 5'1" and I went on to buy a couple more pairs over the next decade 😁

Justleaveitblankthen · 01/12/2024 14:47

glutes

Runskiyoga · 01/12/2024 15:20

2001 4 books that say 'delayed, not shipped yet' 😏
2002 books and a palm held sat nav thing
2003 A Sony digital camcorder and a Baby Sign language book (the start of parenthood!)
The rest of my Amazon list will be exponential because we were early adopters of having everything delivered...I can't even scroll down six months of 2024, there's just hundreds of items.

PinkArt · 01/12/2024 15:27

Oh mine is cute. First orders are in 2003, three books about how to get a job in TV. Currently 21 years into that career.

Andwhomightyoube · 01/12/2024 15:33

Can I play please? I love the pod ans have a bit of a crush on Tom Price .

First order from 2003 was Are You Ready For Love by Elton John on CD single (no Spotify in those days, kids!).

A Steve-O DVD and Northern Line (obscure 90s band) CD single as gifts for my friend.

A book by Comedy Dave, Chris Moyles's old radio sidekick (IIRC it was dreadful).

A meerkats desk calendar, god alone knows why/who for!

And like a PP said it erupted when I brought a kindle (2013 in my case) 117 orders so far this year, 95% of them books 😳

MerryLiftMass · 01/12/2024 16:34

Mine started in 2016 and my youngest’s Paw Patrol era, we graduate through power rangers and into anime.

My eldest has always been a steady reader and I have fond memories of sharing YA series that I can see on my Amazon list year after year.

My middle child goes from bratz and play makeup into her emo and art era.

It has brought a smile to my face seeing my children grow through the memories of Christmas and birthdays.

What a lovely thread! I am a staunch kindle refuser though and always buy paper backs.

BertieBotts · 01/12/2024 16:41

Sofa1000 · 01/12/2024 07:09

Fun. Mine goes back to 2008 November when I was obviously buying Christmas presents for my three who are adults now.
I also bought this book:

Gill Holcombe
How to feed your whole family a healthy, balanced diet with very little money

I still have the book and it was great. A real snapshot of my life then when we were broke.

Grin I also bought this in 2009. I am certain that I was influenced to buy it by MN. Perhaps you were too?

BertieBotts · 01/12/2024 16:54

In the same order I also bought:

Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley (the baby I weaned is now a hulking great teenager!)
The Politics of Breastfeeding
Three In a Bed (book about cosleeping)
There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly (Classic Board Books With Holes)

I'm sure it was 90% MN inspired. It is actually quite an interesting commentary on how internet-influenced I was at the time, because I was FULLY in a camp of believing there was a right way to do things and I was doing it. Three in a Bed is basically a collection of "So There!!!!!" arguments on the co-sleeping side. DS1 was still of an age where I could fully bask in my PFB halo of perfect-parentness, ie, four months old Grin

TPoB was one of the books which started to change my mind on that front - it weirdly made me less militantly pro-breastfeeding. I think because I saw that there are huge forces at play which influence how we even think about feeding babies let alone actually influencing behaviour and I realised the problem isn't that women don't choose breastfeeding enough, it's that nobody listens to women or cares about what they might want, and that that is important. It also had some really helpful perspective about how lucky we are to live in a developed country with access to water and electricity and healthcare and that a formula fed baby in that environment is not at any disadvantage in the slightest.

SoloSofa24 · 01/12/2024 17:05

Has anyone else watched 'Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy' on Netflix? It features lots of people who used to work for Amazon and other big retailers/brands, talking about the techniques they developed to get people to keep on buying more and more, and the unsustainable amount of waste we are all generating.

After watching it, I went and looked through my Amazon account, which seems to go back to 2000, and it's mostly books and DVDs over the years, plus occasional gadget-related things. A lot of the early items say 'delayed, not yet shipped' but I think that's a glitch in their system when you look back that far, as I definitely received them.

The last year or two it has been almost entirely 99p kindle books, as I am trying to avoid putting money in Jeff Bezos' pocket, as well as just buying less generally, or buying more thoughtfully (second hand, designed to last, natural materials).

I have spent the last couple of years decluttering for a downsizing house move, and found myself overwhelmed with the amount of stuff the DC and I have accumulated - so many toys that were hardly played with, DVDs watched once, clothes hardly worn, duplicates of so many things, a drawer full of old phones and tablets and ipods - not to mention my late parents' house, which I am also clearing and is full of stuff. Looking back through the Amazon account I can see things I have just got rid of and found myself wondering why I ever bought it in the first place.

LividBaubles · 01/12/2024 20:07

Wow.

The year 2000. A number of obscure books on English Lit at the uni address I lived at with the man I would marry in 2004, divorce in 2008 and he died in 2015.

In 2001/2002 some "York Notes Guides To" books on books I was having to teach, at the start of my teaching career, at the address we'd moved to while I trained.

I have bought more stuff on Amazon in the last three days (now in my 22nd year of teaching) than I did in the first few years.

A weirdly fascinating piece of my personal history I'd never thought to look at.

Bjorkdidit · 01/12/2024 20:25

Oh, hope I haven't triggered upsetting memories @LividBaubles

I remember the Gill Holcombe book, I think she was/is a Mumsnetter, but I didn't buy it. I did buy a book by another Mumsnetter, Austerity Housekeeping by Sandra Bradley

I also bought the 'Swallowed a Fly' book for a niece or nephew.

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