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Forum Thread

What is your deal-hunting origin story?

19,701 27,793 January 2, 2014 at 03:37 PM in Chat
Hello, I hope you are doing well.

Quote :
In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains.
What is your origin story? Sure, we may not have superpowers or are superheroes or supervillains, but what many of us do here is pretty super.

Were there events in your childhood that led you to your life of deal-hunting? Did you perhaps come from certain circumstances that changed you into a person who hates retail prices? Or perhaps this is all a new development and you're just doing it for fun, or out of necessity. (Oh, you may also be a person who does deal-hunting on the side and is mainly in these forums for The Lounge.)


Curious,
Tofu Vic, Price Slasher

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Joined Nov 2006
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zhelder
01-03-2014 at 01:11 AM.
01-03-2014 at 01:11 AM.
I was born into it, way before the days of the 'net. My parents never had much money, and did what they could to save money wherever they could. My mother clipped tons of coupons, and my father was a master haggler, especially when it came to electronics. Since I was able to read, one of my favorite things to do was read the Sunday paper to look for deals on toys, and, as I got older, other things. SD and the other bargain hunting sites just helped me take deal hunting to the next level.
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Joined Jun 2008
My name is Walter
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marg_fan
01-03-2014 at 02:24 AM.
01-03-2014 at 02:24 AM.
Why didn't I think of switching price tags as a kid? Doh

Oh yeah, I wasn't given money when I was little. Kept me out of trouble I guess. laugh out loud

My origin story? There I was, looking at breasts on another website when an owner of an excellent pair kept telling me about this site. While I finally looked away, here I was.

/truestory
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Joined Dec 2007
Brown Recluse Aficionado
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chevvy
01-03-2014 at 04:29 AM.
01-03-2014 at 04:29 AM.
I came for Moot, and I stayed for Finzz when that relationship got too clingy. She wanted me to call her "baby" and "sweetheart". Can you imagine? Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)
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Joined Sep 2003
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TofuVic
01-03-2014 at 08:48 AM.
01-03-2014 at 08:48 AM.
Quote from zhelder :
I was born into it, way before the days of the 'net. My parents never had much money, and did what they could to save money wherever they could. My mother clipped tons of coupons, and my father was a master haggler, especially when it came to electronics. Since I was able to read, one of my favorite things to do was read the Sunday paper to look for deals on toys, and, as I got older, other things. SD and the other bargain hunting sites just helped me take deal hunting to the next level.
I'm with you.

My family grew up poor, so my dad was very efficient in hunting for deals on grocery and household items; he was also well adept at haggling, especially when it involved electronics. We were a very thrifty family and didn't have items such as televisions and cars when I was young. My parents still have not purchased a car, although I finally got one of my own just 2 years. I finally bought my first television in 2013.

In the early 2000s, I found FatWallet and Slickdeals and lurked on these sites for some time before creating my accounts in 2003 when I realized I often found deals that were not yet posted. I then figured it was time to contribute to these communities and help other people.

My deal-hunting ways initially grew out of necessity, although I am now fortunate enough to do it primarily as a hobby (I also do it to get luxury items for which I would not pay full price).

I can also look at this in a pseudo-psychological way: My dad's deal-hunting ways impressed me as a child, and for me to impress him nowadays, I find deals and tell him about them so I can make him proud.

Tofu Vic
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Joined Jan 2009
I’m evil.....
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cupcake42
01-03-2014 at 09:01 AM.
01-03-2014 at 09:01 AM.
Quote from finzz2dlft :
I came for the freebies, got lured into the Lounge, and never left! Whee
Same with meeeeee!!! That's where I first met you too. You had to keep telling Smidge and me to keep the OT down and Whip us more then once. That's when if you remember you told me to take it to the lounge. Wink EVERYONE CAN BLAME FINZZ FOR MY LOUNGE POSTWHORING!
Quote from chewspam :
I came for Moot, and I stayed for Finzz when that relationship got too clingy. She wanted me to call her "baby" and "sweetheart". Can you imagine? Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)
Butbut....Nevermind....Sadwalk Crying
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Joined Jan 2006
L8: Grand Teacher
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FeedMeAlmonds
01-03-2014 at 09:23 AM.
01-03-2014 at 09:23 AM.
Classic slickdicks - slickdeals mix-up typo, turns out there were plenty of pricks in the lounge so here we are today.
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Joined Dec 2005
My # is bigger than yours
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SnakePlisken
01-03-2014 at 09:25 AM.
01-03-2014 at 09:25 AM.
ghey ghey ghey
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Joined Aug 2011
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cr8ter
01-03-2014 at 09:55 AM.
01-03-2014 at 09:55 AM.
I knew a guy in the early days of target clearance (1992ish - when they had price stickers without sku's) would peel off the orange clearance sticker and place it over UPC codes of non clearance items. he would get the item 9 out of 10 times.
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Joined May 2006
Boating
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Piccaboo
01-03-2014 at 12:30 PM.
01-03-2014 at 12:30 PM.
Quote from marg_fan :
Why didn't I think of switching price tags as a kid? Doh

Oh yeah, I wasn't given money when I was little. Kept me out of trouble I guess. laugh out loud

My origin story? There I was, looking at breasts on another website when an owner of an excellent pair kept telling me about this site. While I finally looked away, here I was.

/truestory
We didn't get money, we collected bottles and turned them in for cash Bounce That gave us pocket money to spend. With a family of 6 kids, there was no such thing as allowances Nono
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Joined Mar 2009
Schrödinger's Frog
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Frogstar
01-03-2014 at 12:50 PM.
01-03-2014 at 12:50 PM.
I collected cans, not bottles nod
I'd mow lawns too.
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Joined Jan 2004
Here's to the future
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Iaaaiws
01-03-2014 at 01:21 PM.
01-03-2014 at 01:21 PM.
Quote from Piccaboo :
We didn't get money, we collected bottles and turned them in for cash Bounce That gave us pocket money to spend. With a family of 6 kids, there was no such thing as allowances Nono
Amazingly, when Michigan first started having a deposit on cans and bottles back in the late 70s stores were very trusting. You could bring in a bag full of returnables and just tell them how much you had and they would give you the money. It was possible to "exaggerate" how much you really had and get a tidy little bonus if you had a mind to do so. As it turned out I had a mind to do so. laugh out loud
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Joined May 2006
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Piccaboo
01-03-2014 at 01:24 PM.
01-03-2014 at 01:24 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Amazingly, when Michigan first started having a deposit on cans and bottles back in the late 70s stores were very trusting. You could bring in a bag full of returnables and just tell them how much you had and they would give you the money. It was possible to "exaggerate" how much you really had and get a tidy little bonus if you had a mind to do so. As it turned out I had a mind to do so. laugh out loud
Where I grew up, where we walked to the local 7-11, there was a little trail we followed, then you had to walk thru this brush area and up a small hill - that was the honey hole for finding bottles laugh out loud and we gathered them up in a bag - and took them right to the 7-11 for $$$ Kids would buy soda and go sit down in this area and drink and toss the bottles there; it was the smart one's like us who went and gathered them up bulb
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Joined Jan 2004
Here's to the future
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Iaaaiws
01-03-2014 at 01:32 PM.
01-03-2014 at 01:32 PM.
Quote from Piccaboo :
Where I grew up, where we walked to the local 7-11, there was a little trail we followed, then you had to walk thru this brush area and up a small hill - that was the honey hole for finding bottles laugh out loud and we gathered them up in a bag - and took them right to the 7-11 for $$$ Kids would buy soda and go sit down in this area and drink and toss the bottles there; it was the smart one's like us who went and gathered them up bulb
We used to just go downtown by the bars on the weekends and look in the back of pickup trucks. On a good night you could fill up a couple of big garbage bags with cans. At ten cents for each can you could make a pretty good haul. Big Grin
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Joined May 2006
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Piccaboo
01-03-2014 at 01:33 PM.
01-03-2014 at 01:33 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
We used to just go downtown by the bars on the weekends and look in the back of pickup trucks. On a good night you could fill up a couple of big garbage bags with cans. At ten cents for each can you could make a pretty good haul. Big Grin
My father never let us far away from home Sadwalk let alone near a bar unless he took us to one over the river and across the bridge where booze was always cheaper.
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Joined Sep 2003
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TofuVic
01-03-2014 at 01:39 PM.
01-03-2014 at 01:39 PM.
Quote from Piccaboo :
We didn't get money, we collected bottles and turned them in for cash Bounce That gave us pocket money to spend. With a family of 6 kids, there was no such thing as allowances Nono
My mom and I also recycled cans and bottles, although we didn't pick up strangers' and simply recycled the ones our family and relatives used. I have two siblings, and none of us ever got allowances. What my dad did, however, was give us money based on our school report card GPAs. Anything under a 3.0 GPA equated to no money. Anything above a 3.0 earned us money using a solution he made on his own that looks like the following:
3.1 GPA = $1
3.3 GPA = $3
3.54 GPA = $5.40
3.83 GPA = $8.30
4.0 GPA = $10

We were each eligible for up to $20 per year, as there are two semesters in a school year.

Tofu Vic
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