WalletRehab - Ways to save money

I remember when I was in college, my biggest involuntary expenses were college textbooks. Majoring in Biology, each textbook cost over $100. One textbook per class, times five classes, times two semesters equaled at least $1000.00 in books a year. The worst part of it was that after graduating, I never touched these books again.

Books in college are mandatory. It’s difficult to succeed without them. And back then, you could only save money on books in two ways.

Buy used copies of your textbooks

Buying used copies of textbooks saved me about 20%. There were a couple problems with buying used textbooks though. Oftentimes, the books that I needed were just unavailable. The campus bookstore at my school didn’t stock very many used copies. Furtherore, competition for these books was fierce. Everyone else had the same idea about buying used books, so we always had to fight each other for those tattered tomes. Even if you were lucky enough to get a used copy, it wasn’t necesarily a good copy. Pages might be covered in notes, highlighted, ripped or even removed completely. Also, the selection of used books was always limited. The campus bookstore only stocked used books for basic, general or foundation-level math and science courses.

You were out of luck if you had to buy books for any humanities or advanced science classes.

Sell your used books back to the campus bookstore.

At the end of the semester, I sold what books I could back to the campus bookstore. Like with buying used copies, the bookstore only bought back freshman and sophmore textbooks in math and science. I was stuck with the books from most of my classes, including Econometrics, Physical Chemistry and Industrial Organization. After your fresmanh year, it’s impossible to sell most of your books.

Now, thanks to the Internet, there are a couple of other ways to save money on books.

Buy books on the Internet

You can buy your books on the Internet. On Amazon, you should be able to get a good discount on your book prices. The problem is that ordering books on-line, you have to wait for them to be delivered. To save money, you choose the cheapest shipping method, and end up waiting for your books to be delivered. So, for the first couple weeks of school, you’re falling behind in class without any study materials. You really can’t order before the school year begins, because your professors only give you the book list on the first day.

BookDude.com - Buy textbooks at Internet prices delivered to your doorstep

BookDude helps fix this problem. You order your books off their website, and they deliver them directly to you the next day. They can do this because they have a specialized warehouse and distribution system allowing you to simultaneously save time and money. They work specifically with only a number of schools though. Visit them at www.bookdude.com.

Trade books on BookAnt.com or Chegg.com.

BookAnt helps students connect to exchange textbooks. It provides an on-line marketplace where students can post books they want to sell, and books they want to buy. Buying from your peers helps lower prices. Chegg.com, also allows students to buy and sell used textbooks for free.

Buy International Editions of your books.

If you can buy them, international editions are a great way to go with certain books. They are usually black and white softcover versions of the US textbook. They have the same content and all of the information you need to do well in your class. The main difference between an international edition and the US edition, is that the international edition is normally about 60% cheaper.