That One Time I Beat the System

For some odd reason I was thinking about when I used to live in Washington.  I thought about how I became a major hoarder.  Not the kind of hoarder that I would earn me a spot on TLC, but I became a money hoarder.  It was remarkable (for me, at least) how much I had in savings. 

For those of you who don't know the story (I'll try to be quick about it), when I was 19 me and two friends decided we were going to live outside of Utah in the name of adventure and experiencing life outside of happy valley.  Two weeks later I packed whatever I could fit into my little blue Dodge Neon, and with 200 bucks in my back pocket drove to Washington. 

I knew going into it that it was only temporary, I would be coming home once my apartment contract was up in six months.  Always in the back of my mind was the thought that I would be going home eventually, and consequently a deep paranoia set in that I wouldn't have enough money to make it home. 

So, I became a money hoarder.  I took frugal to extremes, counting each cent, and wary of spending anything I saved as if my life depended on it.  'Cause I thought it did.

My friend was working at Blockbuster, and they came out with a new program to buy used DVDs, and we hatched a glorious plan.  It was a many stepped plan, so I hope I can explain this so it makes sense.

1. We went to the dollar store, where I bought 12 DVDs for $12. 

2. Next, we went to Blockbuster, and sold our DVDs.  Because Blockbuster had a guarantee that they would not buy a DVD for less than $5 I got $5-$10 for each of my dollar store DVDs.

3. Blockbuster only gave store credit, so I used the store credit to get the most expensive thing they sold that was brand new, which was a DVD box set of the TV show 24 (in its hey day they were expensive).  I also had store credit left.

4.Next, I took my brand new box set to Walmart, who was selling it for more than Blockbuster was, and returned it for a hefty gift card.  Figuratively hefty, the card actually weighed the same regardless of the amount on the card.

5. Lastly, I bought the box set I was really pining for but was too cheap to buy myself, which was Alias, with Jennifer Gardner.  I also got a CD and had money left over on my gift card.

In those days I knew my way around the Walmart return policy like the back of my hand, and knew how to work the system to get what I wanted.  Though, nothing quite as elaborate at that.  I could liken watching that DVD to the end of Ocean's 11, where they are all watching the Bellagio Fountain.