Prepare for {IELTS}

Describe something that you have bought and never

used
You should say:
• What it is
• When and where you bought it
• Why you bought it
• And explain why you have never used it

I wouldn’t call myself a shopaholic, but I am guilty of buying things and

never using them. The first thing that came to mind when I read this
question was a pair of running shoes. Last year, my new year’s resolution
was to get fit and I planned to do this by going running every day. I did
st
actually go running on the 1 January and instead of taking it slowly, I ran
about 5k – well, to be honest, I probably ran about 50m and I walked the
rest of the way. When I got home, my feet were killing me and covered in
blisters.

Deciding it was my trainers that were the problem, I went online and
splashed out on a brand-new pair of running shoes. This was a stupid idea
for many reasons, but mainly, because you should never buy running
shoes online, as it is impossible to get the size right and you really need to
get them fitted by an expert. When they arrived three days later, I opened
the box, thought to myself ‘they look nice’ and never opened the box
again.
You might be wondering why I didn’t use the trainers. Was it because they
didn’t fit? Well, to be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no idea if they fit
or not because I did not even get as far as trying them on. The problem
with new year’s resolutions is that we have a great deal of enthusiasm
when we make them but they are almost impossible to stick to. By the
time they had arrived, although my feet had recovered from the blisters, I
had lost my enthusiasm for running.

For the whole of January, I kept thinking ‘I’ll go running tonight’ and
then when I finished work, I was shattered or it was raining and so I
would make an excuse and say to myself ‘I’ll definitely go tomorrow’.
The problem is that when you procrastinate, it is hard to ever do the
thing that you were planning to do. A month later, I realised that it was
too late to return the running shoes so I had wasted my money. Maybe I
will use them at some point in the future – it is unlikely but here’s
hoping.