40 Ways To Save Money On Textbooks

Money Saving Tips For Students

First Published Date : November 26, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

Recently, I have noticed a lot of students are visiting ADJ. I can’t mention names from the U.S. (because there are simply too many to name), but these Canadian institutions have highest concentration visiting ADJ: University of Manitoba, University of Toronto, York University, and Seneca College. I guess ADJ’s simple language and easy-style articles are able to appeal to students. I thank you all for visiting this site and today’s article has been specially written for you, whether you are a 20-year-old or 50-year-old student.

Buying textbooks is something every student goes through in their school career. An average textbook costs about $100 and each year you will be spending nearly $1000 on books. The objective of today’s article is to show you how you can cut your textbook costs considerably by taking some simple steps. I will discuss this in two parts. In part one, I will show you what you can do to save money on textbooks. In part two, I will mention some websites that can save you money.

Save Money On Textbooks – Part 1

Borrow From Someone Else

Find someone who already completed the course and borrow their book. One thing you need to be aware of – make sure your borrowed book still applies to the course. Publishers often change editions so old books no longer do the job. That’s how they make money.

Buy Used

Buying used books is a great idea to save money but you need to find someone who is selling what you are looking to buy. You can check your school notice boards, newspaper ads, and online ads to find used books. I will be giving you some sites to find used books online in part two.

Photo Copy Those Pages You Need

Get a book from someone and copy those pages you need. Before doing this, make sure it does not violate any legal terms and conditions.

Trade books

Trade books with someone who has the books you need. This is simply giving someone the books he needs and taking from him/her the books you need.

Sell Books

Don’t forget to sell your books once you are done with them. Your friends will likely want to buy from you if you give them a good price.

Avoid Campus Bookstore

Avoid campus bookstore unless they have books on sale. Usually items are always overpriced at campus bookstores.

Group Buy

Take courses with your friends, divide the book’s cost by how many of you are taking the course and each contributes to buy the required textbook. Make agreements beforehand stating how long each of you should keep the book during the term. During the exam, do group studies so all of you can use the book. Once you complete your term, sell the book and divide the money equally.

Use the Library

It may not be always possible to obtain a copy from the library; however, make sure to check the library before buying. The library has limits on how long you can keep a book. Taking a course with friends helps to keep books within your circle – another advantage of registering for courses with friends. Also, if your library has the book on reserve, you can go there and read it.

Campus website

You can buy and sell used books on your campus website. Since you will be dealing with other students, you will find good bargains and hard-to-find books because both buyers and sellers are dealing with the same institutions.

Save Money On Textbooks – Part 2

Websites That Save You Money On Textbooks

Here is a list of websites that will save you money. Keep this list handy by saving this page on your favourite online bookmark.

Buy Textbooks Online

Check these sites to buy online. Always compare many sites before buying. You will find great bargains if you spend a little time researching different sites.

Amazon.com – The biggest online retailer. Remember, Amazon also displays items from other merchants. Usually these items are a lot cheaper than Amazon’s own. So don’t place your order after checking Amazon’s own listings only.

CollegeBooksDirect.com – You may be able to find books for less than Amazon

TextbooksNow.com – You may be able to find books for less than Amazon

Comparison Online Sites

BigWords.com – Pulls new and used books prices from sites. You can compare them on one screen.

CheapestTextBooks.com – specialized in academic books.

Half.com – eBay owns Half.com. It is possible that you many find items here for less than Amazon.

BooksPrice.com – Easy to use price comparison site.

CampusBooks.com – Buy, sell, and compare textbooks.

ValoreBooks.com – Student’s textbook marketplace.

AbeBooks.com – Find old, new, rare, and out of print books

Alibris.com – Find old, new, rare, out of print, and international version books

BestBookBuys.com – Compare new and used books. International versions can be 80% to 90% cheaper than U.S. versions.

BuyUsedTextbooks.com – Specialized in academic books.

CampusBookSwap.com – Buy and sell used books.

TextBookX.com – Buy and sell new and used books. Also, you can buy and sell through your Facebook profile.

Rent Textbooks Online

It is possible to rent books these days. You will be paying one third or less than book’s original price for a semester

CampusBookRentals.com – Rent your textbooks.

Chegg.com – Rent a book and Chegg will plant a tree.

Legally Download Textbooks Online –

FreeloadPress.com – Download your textbook free.

Project Gutenberg – Download free eBooks and audio books. This site was made by volunteers. They gathered materials from the public domain and put together on this site. 

Textbookrevolution.org – Get your free books from a site run by students.

Electronic Textbooks

These sites offer to share, subscribe, and print (some limitations apply) electronic textbooks or eTextbooks online.

CafeScribe.com – Share, subscribe, and search notes and textbooks. You need to have MyScribe reader and it’s free.

CourseSmart.com – You can save up to 50%. Buy and access eTextbook instantly.

Springer.com – Specialized in scientific, technological and medical books, journals, and reference works.

Misc

The Internet Public Library – Not only students but anyone can take advantage of this huge Internet Library. I highly recommend it.

Open Course Ware Consortium – 200 educational institutions from around the world are sharing digital publication of educational materials. I highly recommend it.

Bonus Tip

ADJ has lots of money saving articles. These articles are primarily located under Personal Finance or Smart Tips categories. Reading and applying these articles will save you money. Also, I’ll be writing more on this topic in the future, so keep checking back. Don’t forget to bookmark this site for later use.

Internet is opening the door to a new world of endless possibilities and opportunities. Students, educators, and anyone who wants to broaden knowledge can do so without spending bundles of money these days. Until recently, textbook publishers were able to charge ridiculous prices for textbooks because we did not have any options. However, those days are gone. Equipped with powerful information, it is possible to acquire knowledge these days without paying a fortune.

Scammers Empty out Personal Finance Author’s Bank Account

Scam Alert – Beware of Bank/Credit Card Skimming at Gas Station

First Published: December 15, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

As you know, I always talk about how to protect yourself from various scams and ask you to be extremely cautious. This implies that I am a person who is always cautious when I am exposed to banking and online transactions; however, there are times when you are unable to protect yourself from these scams, regardless of how careful you are. My bank account was recently emptied out by scammers and I will tell you what happened with a screenshot of my bank transactions.

On November 19, 2008, I went to a Chapters Indigo bookstore and attempted to pay with my bank card at the checkout. Instantly, to my surprise, my bank card was declined. This was simply impossible to me, as I always have some cash and overdraft protection on my checking account. I called my bank right away and was told that there were four withdrawals of about $200 each on November 17. Once the bank’s system found out that it was a possible scam, my account was blocked to prevent any further withdrawals.

I did not have any access to my bank account for about seven days. In the meantime, my bank performed an investigation and returned the money that the scammers took from my account. I got a new bank card in the mail and my account was operational again.

I am posting a screen shot to show you how things went:

·   Nov 17 – I paid at a Petro Canada gas station with my bank card

·   Nov 17 – Someone somehow got a hold of my personal information and withdrew money four times. Notice these amounts scammers withdrew. A regular bank machine in Canada lets you withdraw amounts in multiples of $20 such as $20, $40, $60, etc. I am not sure how they possibly withdrew amounts like $201.50, $202, etc.

·   Nov 27 – Bank completed investigation and returned $812.50

Although my bank did not tell me if the hackers got my banking info from the Petro-Canada electronic terminal, I will never use a bank card or credit card at a gas station again. In turn, I would ask you to be extremely cautious using a bank or credit card, especially at a gas station.

My Black Coffee Journey

My Dramatic Cut on Sugar

First Published: EntrepreneurJourney.com Dec 20, 2013

Nothing is impossible as long as you decide on something, make plans, and persevere to make it happen. This is how I made it possible to switch to black coffee.

In the past, I used to take 3-4 sugars for Tim Horton or McDonald’s coffee 7-8 sugars for Starbucks’s coffee. After reading on the harmful effects of sugar and salt, I decided to cut back on both of these. It was not instantly that I gave up on sugar. Rather, I gradually decreased my sugar intake. Just about a month ago, my final sugar (before turning to black coffee or tea) intake was 1 to 2 spoons with coffee or tea.

As I felt I was ready to try going without sugar, I tested coffee and tea without sugar and cream for 2 weeks. The first week was difficult, but the second week was not that bad, as my taste buds got used to it. Then what happened next? After two weeks of going without sugar, just to see how it felt with sugar again, I started coffee with sugar and cream again.

Surprisingly enough, I found out that I did not like coffee or tea with sugar and cream anymore and it just did not feel right.

As it stands right now, I am very happy with my black coffee or tea and will continue it that way. If you would like to cut back on sugar, start gradually right now and it’s not that as hard as it may sound.

Your Holiday and the Environment

Green Holidays

As the pages fall from the calendar and time spins inexorably on, it is amazing to think just how close we are to the month of June. Genuinely, it seems like time speeds up the longer it goes on – although the reason for this is more to do with us having lived longer, so each day will seem comparatively shorter as we move along our own personal time lines. Regardless of this, though, the closeness of June means that we are moving steadily towards the time for summer holidays. Every year the summer months see people in their droves heading for some far off destination for a little bit of rest and recreation. But for the environmentalists among us, is there a danger that the conflict between our desire to have fun and our desire to stay true to our morals could spoil it all for us?

Looking at it another way, are we as people doing enough to protect the planet that we have, particularly when it comes to traveling to another part of it? Holidays are important. We work all the year around to feed and clothe ourselves and our families, and in order to be able to do it all over again we need that release which only a holiday can bring. Balancing this holiday with our environmentalist concerns, though, is never the easiest task. The reasons for this are more complex than just wanting to jump on a ‘plane and feeling that we cannot – although, of course, that does play a part for many of us.

Holidaying serves a necessary purpose – allowing us to relax. For many, this gets in the way of having a truly green holiday. In order to really let go of the stresses and strains of a working life, some of us need to put as much distance between ourselves and our place of work. This will, naturally, impact upon the environment more than a cycling holiday in a neighbouring state. How can we not feel guilty about that? It’s easy to say “just don’t fly”. But how realistic is it?

Once we get to the point where we are putting ourselves under immense pressure and personal guilt for having a natural impulse, we are not helping ourselves. Taking a more realistic, even compromised, position so that you get the holiday you want without doing excessive damage to the environment does not make you a monster. There is a lot you can do to offset environmental damage, all the more so if you look at greener airlines who will allow you to fly where you want to go while still doing what you can to lessen the environmental impact.

Many airlines these days are practising more realistic policies on fuel use by changing the way they fly, and performing better and more maintenance on the aircraft to stop emissions as well as making the flight more efficient. Changing where you go on holiday is something you can do to help the environment, but looking at where else you can make compromises is something that enables you to have some more freedom of choice.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Thegreenlivingblog.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on May 29, 2009.

Scammers Are Personalizing Emails

Scammers Emails

Internet scams are on the rise and it will get worse in coming years. I take Internet scams, or any kind of consumer fraud, seriously and always try to update my readers with new findings. Today, I am going to post an email I received in my Gmail inbox. I always get tons of these - but why this particular email is so important? Because the scammer did not send it just bluntly.  He took his time and did his research to find my email from a Press Release which I issued some time ago. Why would he do that? He is trying to sound real by making a personal connection (mentioning he read your press release). He is going that extra mile to intimidate you. The letter you will receive in your inbox may not look like the one I am posting. However, you will have an idea what these scam letters look like. Remember, common sense and vigilance are your best defense. Here is what I have received:

"frank williams" (frank002williams@gmail.com) has contacted you from your profile on biz.PRLog.Org.

frank williams said -
From:frank williams
Rue 2 plateaux les perles Abidjan,
Cote D' Ivoire.

My name is frank williams, 24 years from Sierra Leone. My father and I escaped from our country at the heat of the civil war after loosing my mother and two of my senior brothers in the war.
He was in Buake, a northern city to  negotiate for the purchase of a cocoa plantation when he was shot and killed by the rebel troupes fighting to take over the Government of the country on the 22nd September, 2002.

Before the unfortunate death, my late father had in his personal account with a bank here the sum of $18.4m. As a result of the present insecurity of lives and property in this country,
I need you also to assist me with a letter of invitation as come down and complete my education while you mind the investment.

I will give you 15% while 5% is made for expenses. E-mail: me frank002williams@gmail.comso that we can discuss further.
frank williams
First Published: Sep 12, 2008 ADawnJournal.com