Since I'm a college student who loves the environment, animals, and saving money I thought it was only natural that I do this blog. This particular blog is all about saving resources both our own and the Earths!
My Spring semester just started meaning I just bought textbooks for my new courses and sold my old textbooks! I had 5 books last semester but decided to keep one due to it being inexpensive and useful, I figured if I'm not getting much for it anyway and it could be helpful in the future why not keep it! Out of four remaining books I sold two of them via craigslist, one I sold to amazon with their trade in program, and the last I'm still hoping to sell.
There are many ways to save money on textbooks.
Buy Used- If its possible then you should almost always buy used, occasionally thats not an option because its a new text, you can't find it used, or it has a needed access code that makes the price of buying new lesser!
Buy the Kindle Version- I actually just found out about this, but for Kindle owners you can buy a Kindle version of the book and save alot of money. I found one book for $100 cheaper for the Kindle then for the physical copy! That's almost enough money to buy a Kindle new! I also want to add that some textbooks have a FREE kindle version at least on Amazon!
Rent- I haven't ever rented a textbook because I have always found for the textbooks I needed that the cost to rent versus to buy a used copy was very close... this isn't always the case, but for me it has been. Even when renting was $20 cheaper I figure in what I can expect to get back by selling the book. With my Comp book I spent just about $4.00 to use it all semester after figuring the purchase price from the sell price, much cheaper than renting it!
Buy an older edition- I am not this bold but if your really struggling with money or your confident, or you discuss it first with your instructor this can be a great option. Editions usually don't change much, I have talked to several people who used an older edition and noted the changes were usually that pages had been rearranged so they had to look harder for the information.. that or pictures were changed, but never core information it was always small stuff! Many instructors will actually give out page numbers for the older edition if they know students are using it and the number differs, some however will not...
Trade- We no longer live in a barter economy but I don't think it was such a bad thing. I haven't gotten to trade textbooks yet but its an easy way to avoid paying anything for new books, you don't get any money back on your old books but your also not shelling any out, sounds good to me!Shop Around- I personally use Amazon, Half.com, ecampus, craigslist, the campus bookstore if I have to, and a local textbook store. Since all the online sites I use are marketplaces I usually find the best deals online because there are many different sellers competing to sell their book meaning it drives prices down. For books I can't find online or in some cases are more expensive I shop locally.
So how is this green?
By buying used I am saving virgin materials from being used to make a new textbook, which helps prevent deforestation (pictured below), and helps to conserve our Earths resources!
Have any other Ideas on how to save on textbooks, comment below!
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