Tips from a college student

You can now use Twitter to find the cheapest place to buy your textbooks. This is a neat new program being launched this semester.

Click this link, or copy and paste the url below.

http://www.campusbooks.com/books/textbook_tweetbacks.php



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I have been analyzing my spending, and have realized that my two biggest expenses are gas and food. I'm still working on the food thing, but for gas I started doing some work on Google. I realized that I have two options: I can buy a small fuel efficient car, or I can make my truck more fuel efficient. I decided to go with the latter, because in the end that will be cheaper than buying another car, plus I don't like little cars.

After looking on Google some, I came across this website that this guy has made that talks about putting acetone in your gas and getting better mileage. At first I didn't believe it, and I'm still not convinced yet, but I was just enough intrigued to finish the article.

There are several reasons that this sounds legit to me. First of all, he emphasizes experimenting with it yourself and tracking the results. I don't see how he could make any money off of this, and it seems like he is legitimately looking for better gas mileage instead of just trying to rip you off like most people do.

Then I said, how come I haven't heard of this before? I think the oil industry is so powerful that they do their best to keep all of this out of the news. The article kind of alludes to this several times, but it just seems like everything is tied to the oil industry. All the politicians seem to have ties, rumors going around that the war is about oil, and some people are getting very rich off of it all. If it gets out that you can get significantly better gas mileage another way, then it will hurt them.

Anyway, without wasting anymore space, here is the link. Read it, if nothing else I think you'll find it interesting. I will probably try this if I ever get around to buying acetone and putting it in there. If I do I will give my results.

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As poor college students, my friends and I have had to discover ways to have fun without spending money. Normally, if we wanted to go out and do something we would go out to eat, go to the movies, do things that cost money. But now that we're in college, we don't have hardly any money and can't afford to do that much. So we have had to develop ways to have fun for free. Or at least cheap.

You're going to end up paying for food unless someone invites you over and cooks for you. A good way to get food for cheap is to get a bunch of people to go to the park and chip in some money, and then grill out on the grills that they have there. You have to be smart about getting everyone to pay though or you can lose money on this deal. That's food and fun for cheap, and you can get hours of entertainment from a park.

Another way to have fun is to have people over to a house, and order pizza and play games. The more pizza you buy, the cheaper it is. And you can get pretty good deals, like the 5-5-5 from Dominoes. The key to having fun for free is to be creative. You don't always have to spend money to have fun.

If you cut food out of your time with your friends, you will save a significant amount of money. You can eat something you cook at home, or eat on campus for free if you have a meal plan. There are many things you can do and make it fun that are completely free, like going to Wal-Mart and goofing off.

Check this page for more ideas on fun stuff to do for free or cheap.

Last semester I bought books for all of my classes and ended up not using some of them, so I got ripped off. I think this is a system set up by professors to make them more money, since they write the books (sometimes). Granted, I did get good deals on some of my books and have already made money on 2 of them. This semester I decided that I am not buying a book until I am for sure that I have to have it.

I am going to go to class through the add drop period before I buy my books, because by the end of that time I should be able to tell whether or not I will need them. If the teacher puts everything online that I need, why should I buy the book? If the quizes and tests come from lectures, not the book, then why do I need the book? I am not paying 4-500 for books again this semester.

Like I said earlier, I think the teachers write their own books and then require them just to make money. Obviously they do, but this is ridiculous. College students can't afford to pay the outragious prices of textbooks nowadays as it is, especially if they aren't going to use the book!

I am going to try to get by with as little as possible this semester, which should save some serious money. I recommend that you try this also, unless you just like throwing money away on books you will never use.

And when you buy your books, DO NOT buy them at the campus bookstore. Look on facebook, many students list books there at decent prices. Also try ebay, half.com, amazon, and other online book sellers. You can save a lot of money by doing this also. This is how I make money off of some of my textbooks.

A great site to buy textbooks is Textbook X, and they have FREE SHIPPING on most book orders over $49!
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Everyone is writing the best of their blog for 2007, and I will do that eventually, but right now I want to sum up some of the best posts from around the blog-o-sphere from 2007.

J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly has had a lot of great articles this year. His summary is here, but I picked out the ones that are most useful for college students.

How to Feed Yourself for $15/week:
The Power of Yes: A great article about how saying "yes" can change your life
List of good personal finance books: If you like to read these books can help transform your finances!
If Personal Finance is easy, why isn't everyone rich?
The Road to Wealth is Paved with Goals: Kind of long but has some really good points in it.

Jay at Dumb Little Man has had so many great posts this year I can't list them all! All I can say is go to the site and browse through it!

Grad Money Matters has a page devoted to top posts here. They are not all 2007, but they're useful so I'm including them anyway.

Hustlerama has had the best bank and credit card bonuses on its site, and many are still available. So if you are looking for a credit card or bank account or anything related check out Hustlerama.

Money Smart Life has a list of best posts here, but I have picked out some of the best of the best and here they are in no particular order:

How 5 minutes can save you $120. This is about how to reduce your monthly bills like cable, phone, etc.
10 ways to cut your resturaunt bill.
10 ways to ask for a lower price or better deal.
How to ace a job interview.
How to get the promotion you deserve.
How to use leverage to make money on eBay. This is about how to make money on eBay without taking losses. It's a really good idea, I highly recommend this!

These are some of the best articles around the Blog-O-Sphere. I know there are more out there, but I can't include them all. You may want to bookmark this page so you can read some of these later, because there is no way you can retain everything at one time.

Happy New Year!!!
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to stay at school for part of Christmas break because of work. I was not able to stay in my dorm because they were doing maintenance on it, so I had to find another place to stay. I used this as an experiment to see how cheap I could live for a week.

*Note: This was only a week. It would not be possible to maintain this lifestyle permanently*

I was able to get 3 offers from people for me to stay at their house for free. This was big, because if it weren't for them I would have been paying big bucks for a hotel. So I got housing for free.

I figured out how to eat for free or cheap every meal. The way I got food for free was to a) get someone else to take me out, b) get someone to invite me over for dinner, c) get free food at work.
I got food for really cheap at sheetz and McDonald's. You can get a double cheeseburger and a 32 oz Sweet Tea for $2 + tax at McDonald's. Sheetz, just eat off the cheap menu posted above the screen. You can also eat for cheap by buying stuff like frozen fish sticks at Walmart or Sams and then cooking them later. I drink all water, so I didn't have to pay for that (except when I get tea at McDonalds).

Since I didn't have anything else to do, I picked up extra shifts at work and made even more money, thus easily clearing as much if not more as I usually make during school without living on dining hall food and dorms.

The main thing I learned through all of this is that the most important thing is who you know. By knowing lots of people and letting them know my problem, I get free housing and several free meals. I also have friends in high places that I use to pull strings sometimes when I need something.

When you have a friend helping you out, make sure you don't take advantage of them. If you take advantage of your friends, you won't have many friends. If they scratch your back, make sure you scratch their's later, in other words, always help out a friend in need and when you need something you will be taken care of.

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I have been sitting here thinking about ways to get money to pay for college, and then I thought, "duh. apply for scholarships." So I went to the old fastweb site and updated my profile I had created in high school, then started searching. I am eligible for 43 scholarships listed on that site.

This takes some time to search through all of these, but after being in college for a year and a half I have realized how hard it is to get money, so even if I spend 10 hours searching for scholarships, if I can get one then it will be worth it. My ultimate goal is to graduate from college debt-free, and even though my parents are helping I am not on track to meet that goal. Even though working at my job 20 hours a week on top of school is helping, it isn't quite getting me there. This is where the scholarship search comes in. I am trying to take every possible angle on earning money for college, and this is the most obvious.

I would like to encourage any of you who are still in college to check out fastweb, as it is a great time saving database of scholarships that is recognized as the best one to use. You just put your info in and it tells you what to apply for. Scholarships are an easy way to get free money, and they aren't that hard if you can write a decent essay telling why you need money so bad.

Good luck on paying for college and getting those scholarships!

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Before buying any presents for Christmas this year, always look online for a coupon first. There are coupons available for almost every major retailer. I recommend reading http://www.mydealsblog.com/
This is a good website with some really good coupons and good deals on it. I have recently started reading it, and he has some really good stuff there.

Once again, buying Christmas presents can break the bank, so you need to be careful when you buy them. Check out this post for more on saving money over the holidays.

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Almost everyone falls into the trap of spending a ton of money around Christmas time. You always have that struggle inside of you to decide who to buy a gift for and who to leave off your list. Many times that list can be very long, which equals very expensive. There is an easy solution to this problem though: just remember its the thought that counts!

Just because you feel obligated to get someone a gift (which is stupid anyway) doesn't mean that you have to buy them an expensive one. They will appreciate much more a gift that actually means something than just something that is expensive. Try to buy gifts that either remind someone of a good time you had together or of a special occasion. You could also give them something you made, and you can be as creative as your brain lets you be with that one. It could be as simple as several desktop backgrounds you made in photoshop all the way to handmade furniture. Another good option is to listen closely to what they say and figure out the things they really want besides the obvious things, because if you give them something they didn't specifically ask for then they will appreciate it much more and know that you care enough to listen and figure out what they want.

Some tips for choosing the right gift:

-Think about your relationship you've had with that person and make a list of all the memorable times you've had together, then try to think of something that will always remind them of that time.

-Think of a way to solve one of their needs by making something yourself instead of buying it. They will know you put a lot of time into it and appreciate it more.

-Don't give junk. No one needs anymore stuff to put in their attic or garage.

-Be creative. Don't go to Wal-Mart and buy the first thing you see. Be creative with your gift and if it doesn't have any meaning make up something that makes it seem special.

-Always remember, its the thought that counts

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Generation X Finance has posted a good article on some major retailers running Cyber monday deals. If you weren't able to find what you were looking for from what I wrote then check out his post. There are some great deals, so if you haven't finished your Christmas shopping then today is the time to do it!

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There are many deals this coming monday which has been named "Cyber Monday." It is basically Black Friday online. You can check out this site for a good list of merchants participating in Cyber Monday.
You can also google "company cyber monday" and replace "company" with whatever store you want to see. This should bring up some good deals also.
Another idea for shopping on this day is to use coupons. These are deals in the stores, but you can still use coupons. So search online for coupons before making a purchase. By doing this you can get some really really great deals.

Here are some great deals from our affiliates! By shopping through them you get great deals and also support this site!

From Office Depot:

Seagate 250GB FreeAgent External 3.5 Hard Drive - $79.99 After $20 Instant Savings!
D7460  Photosmart  Printer - $144.99 After $35 Instant Savings!
HP R742 Digital Camera - $149.99 Before $20 Instant Savings!
HP A526 Photo Printer - $79.99 After $20 Instant Savings!
SanDisk 1GB CF Ultra II Card - $24.99 After $10 Instant Savings!
Linksys® WRT54G Wireless-G Router - $89.99 After $10 Instant Savings!

Overstock is having a huge sale this weekend, including Cyber Monday. It is free shipping plus huge discounts on everything. Check it out through the following link.

10% Off O-Day Sale plus Free Shipping at Overstock.com! Offer valid 11.23.07 to 11.28.07 Only

Then my favorite store, Wal-Mart, is also doing the Cyber Monday thing here:

Huge Cyber Monday Savings at Walmart.com

I hope you are able to get the deals you want through these links! There are some really good deals on here, and once again I encourage you to try using coupons on top of these promotions! You may get deals so good you can resell on Ebay and make a profit!
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Almost every major retail store this year is participating in Cyber Monday, which is basically Black Friday online. There will be a ton of great deals you can get without ever leaving your recliner. There are a ton of reasons why this is great.

*Don't have to fight crowds

*Don't have to go store to store, or even leave your house

*Don't have to waste time in line

*Shop all your favorite stores in the time it takes to go to their website

*Save a ton of money and do all your Christmas shopping in one day

Check back soon for a list of great Cyber Monday promotions!


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Here is a list I have made from our affiliates of good deals for Black Friday, so you don't have to waste your time searching for them I put them all in one place! A lot of these are online deals, so you don't have to deal with all the confusion and getting up early. I highly recommend doing all of your Black Friday shopping online. Anyway, here's the list.

Champs Holiday Sale! Take 20% off $100. Use Code LKS17N6B. Valid through 12.1.

Take $15 off $90 at ESPNShop.com.  Use Code LKSP7N59. Valid 11.1-11.30.

Footlocker Black Friday Sale! Take 20% off $100.  Use Code LKS17VCP.  Valid through 12.1.

Take $15 off $90 at Footlocker.com! Use Code LKS17CN5. Valid 11.1-11.30.

Save up to 50% on Last Minute Fares at Hotwire!

Save up to 90% + Free Shipping and No Tax at Magazines.com! Shop Now!

Netflix - Only $4.99 a month. No Late Fees. Try it for Free!

HP Pavilion dv6628us 15.4 Widescreen Notebook Computer With Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T2310 $499.99 - After $100 Instant Savings & $200 in (2) Mail-in Savings!

Maxx Digital PN3000 Portable GPS Navigation System $99.99 - After $100 Mail-in Savings!

Motorola® Bluetooth® Enabled Headset H300 $9.99 - After $30 Mail-in Rebate!

Save $50 After Mail-in Savings on Select Cameras of $199.99 and Over!

Westinghouse 42 HD LCD TV $799.99 - After $250 Mail-in and Instant Savings

Black Friday Product Deals from Overstock.com! Valid 11.22.07 to 11.25.07

Get all your holiday shopping done at Prep Sportswear! SHOP NOW>>

Save Big this Friday at Walmart.com


I hope you get some really great deals, but remember, be frugal! Don't waste your money on junk you don't need!
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For some time now the hot news in the technology market has been HD DVD movies. Everyone is speculating which format will win, Blu ray or HD DVD. It is like the vhs vs beta max debate of the 80's. The Blu ray format is made by Sony and is incorporated into the new PS3, so they have an advantage there. HD DVD is made by Toshiba, and is much cheaper than Blu ray. I believe that this will ultimately make the HD DVD the standard for high definition movies.

Many stores are dropping the prices on the Toshiba HD DVD for the holidays, and while some are just having black friday sales on them many stores such as walmart are dropping the price permanently. The trend is to drop the price right under $200, which is a very good price for technology this new. Because of the big difference in price between the two formats, I believe that after the holidays the HD DVD will slowly pull away from Blu ray in sales. Once a lot of the players have sold on black friday and other holiday promotions, people will begin to buy the movies in that format, which will be the deciding factor ultimatly. The more movies that are bought in one format or the other, the better the chance that that format will win the battle.

So watch for these sales near you, as they will probably be selling out quickly, and I would stay away from wasting money on a Blu ray player unless you are buying the PS3, in which case the price isn't that bad for what you get. Also, for those interested in stocks, watch for Toshiba. I'm not a big stock person, but I think there is a good chance that the Toshiba stock will take off during and right after the holdiay shopping season. Also, if you are watching for a good deal on these keep your eye on Ebay, Amazon, Overstock, and other discount websites. You can sometimes get some great deals on these websites. Also, watch for coupons and promotional coupons from office depot, best buy, and other major retailers. Especially this time of year you can get some really good deals if you are willing to shop around a little bit.




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Everyone needs a little extra money. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you still want more. Hey, I’m just being honest, I mean its true isn’t it? Don’t you want some more money?

Anyway, I’ve compiled a list of things to do to get a little extra money on the side. All of these are useful in college, most are useful to anyone. So, here’s the list.

#1. Sell stuff on eBay.

-Everyone has junk somewhere that they could get rid of. In your home, you have your attic and your garage, 2 places that normally have all kinds of stuff you don’t need. If your in college, you should realize every time you move into or out of a dorm room that you have too much stuff and need to sell it.

#2. Check college career center for work.

-Most colleges have a career center place on their website where local businesses can list work they need done. This is a good place to get some work, whether it is a weekend job or a full-time job.

#3. Classified ads.

-Many times people list stuff in classified ads in local newspapers/Craigslist/Facebook that they need done, such as mowing yards or helping move them into a new house, or help paint their house. . Many times you can make some decent money just by responding to these ads.

#4. Sell your books.

-Amazon and half.com are great. You can sell pretty much any book on there, whether it is a textbook or just a random book someone gave you. You can create space and make money by selling books you don’t need. And for future reference, try checking out books from the library instead of buying them.

#5. Free money.

-Get free money by taking advantage of promotions, such as the ING Direct $25 promotion going on right now. Also, you can get a lot of free money by taking advantage of credit card offers, but you have to be careful with those or you can get yourself in trouble.

#6. Get freebies and sell them.

-There are many ways to get freebies, which I will address in a different post. You can either save money by getting useful stuff such as deodorant, toothpaste, and other random stuff, or you can get freebies like laptops and microwaves and sell them. This is pure profit.

#7. Do something you like and make money for it.

-If you have a hobby making stuff, sell stuff you make. Blog about whatever you love. Figure out what you spend most of your time doing or thinking about, and then create a blog about it. Put Google ad words on there and get some passive income rolling in. Sign up for affiliate links. I've heard some great success stories about people doing this.

I just received an email from my FNBO account saying that the rate is changing on September 29th from 6% to 5.05%. I am not sure yet how that stacks up against all of the others, but I do know that my ING account just lowered their rates also. This is a large step down, but I believe that FNBO will still be among the highest interest rates in the country. I plan on keeping my account their open, and only transferring money out if I find a higher one.

As I have posted before, if you do not have your money in a high-yield savings account, you are crazy. Regular banks have rates between 1 and 3%, but with the high-yield accounts you can almost double your interest earned. Why would you not want to do that? If you are interested in signing up for a ING account, you get a 25$ bonus for signing up if you ask me for a referral link and I get a 10$ bonus. So feel free to contact me and ask for an ING referral link if you are interested in signing up for that one. It doesn't have the best rate, but it is one of the better-known online banks, and some people feel more secure with that.

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So you've been home from college all summer, working a ton of hours and making lots of money, right? Well, even if all of that isn't true, hopefully you made at least a little bit of money this summer. The question is, what did you do with this money? Have you blown it all already, is it sitting in the bank, or is it in a dirty sock under your bed? Why not let it make money for you?

Instead of holding onto your money in cash or putting it in a low interest savings account, why not save it and let it work for you at the same time? With an online high yield savings account, if you invest $2,000 you can earn over $100 a year in interest. The highest interest one right now is FNBO Direct at 6% APY. It doesn't have the greatest features, but it is FDIC insured and has a great interest rate. You should use this account if you want to put your money away for a while without having immediate access to it, as it takes several days for transactions to clear. If you want a high yield account that's easier to access, check out ING. You can open an online checking account (called Electric Orange) with an APY of 4%, and with this account you can get a debit card so you can have instant access to it. ING's Orange Savings account has a higher interest rate at 4.5% APY, and you can set it up with your Electric Orange account to move money from one to the other and have instant access.

These accounts have no minimum requirements, and no annual fees. They are a great deal, and if you sign up for ING you can get a $25 referral bonus if you email me for the link to sign up through.

So why are you still holding onto your money? Get online and sign up for one of these accounts! Seriously, its free money without you doing any work. Who doesn't want that?

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Every time I buy my books for the upcoming semester, I feel like I'm getting ripped off by the bookstore. So I have decided that I am going to try to not buy any books there this semester, but find better deals other places. Here is a list of the 5 best places to buy used textbooks besides the bookstore.

#1. Ebay
What can't you get there?
#2. Half.com
Ebay's textbook website. You don't bid, you just buy it on there. It is competition to Amazon.
#3. Amazon.com
#4. Friends.
Often the best deal, because there is no middle man so you both get the best deal.
#5. Facebook marketplace.
I have recently discovered this. Go to your school's network page and click on it, there are great deals on everything from housing to textbooks on there.


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I've been reading a lot on different blogs about whether or not it is a good idea to ditch your land line phone and just use a cell phone. I don't have a land line personally, I just use my cell phone. I move around too much to use a land line. I would have to change my number wayyyy too often, but with my cell I always have it with me, so my friends can reach me no matter where I am on the same number, whether at home or work or vacation or wherever. Another reason I don't have use for a land line is I'm not at home very much during the day. It would only be useful for an answering machine but my cell has an answering machine in voice mail, so that eliminates that too.

To me a land line just isn't practical. Its a waste of money every month when my cell has free nights and weekends, and I'm at work or in class during the day so I don't talk very much. And I text way more than I talk, so I don't really need a whole lot of money. If you're worried about the battery wearing out, get a decent phone, and when you think the battery is getting old buy a new battery. That's a lot cheaper than a new phone.

I charge my phone about once every 3 nights, and it's over a year old and still works fine. The battery seems to last forever. One secret to keeping your battery healthy is to not charge it with it on. I never charge mine with it on, never have and never will. My friends and I have experimented with this, and have discovered that it makes a big difference in the life of the battery. Charging the phone with it on is one of the fastest ways to kill a battery.

When you sign up for a cell phone, just make sure you read the fine print and know what you're getting. Make sure you get enough minutes and texts, because they will stack up the fees if you're not careful. Do you still have a land line? If so, you may want to consider ditching it to save a little money every month.

#1. Get rid of your cable/satellite.

-Instead of wasting a ton of money every month this, just buy seasons of the shows you watch when they come out on DVD. If you watch a lot of movies, get a Netflix subscription or blockbuster. This will save you a lot of money in the long run

#2. Get a small car that cost under $8,000 and gets good gas mileage.

-Calculate how much you spend in gas every year. I don’t drive very much, and I spend about $1400 every year on gas. Getting a smaller car can reduce this cost, and you can also make money if you sell your expensive SUV or whatever you have.

#3. Get a gas rewards card.

-I recommend either the Discover Open Road card or the BP gas card. If you only buy BP gas, get that card, but if you buy different types then get the Discover card. You can save several hundred dollars a year by getting the rewards from these cards.

#4. Buy everything either used or generic.

-Almost everything you buy can be bought on eBay. Most of the time you can save a ton of money on there. For food and other household items, buy the generic brands. It’s the same product, but you get more for your money.

#5. Pay off your credit cards.

-Almost everyone has credit card debt these days, but most people don’t realize that the card companies are sucking money out of their wallets through interest. Credit cards are not a bad thing if you pay them off every month when you get your statement. If you can’t do this, don’t get a credit card.

#6. Don’t drink or smoke or dip or chew or anything else addicting.

-This includes coffee, alcohol, soft drinks, any tobacco products, or anything else you may be addicted to. Drink only water. Its healthier and cheaper. Don’t drink bottled water, drink tap water. If it taste bad get a filter, it’s still cheaper. You can save a ton of money by doing this.

#7. Make your house more energy efficient.

-Do you have high electric bills? If you do a search online, you can find many things to make your home more energy efficient, from power saving lights to solar panels. Think of this as an investment that will add up in the long run.

#8. Stop eating fast food, and eat out for cheap.

-fast food is terrible for you, and its cost adds up quick. Instead of dropping $7 on a fast food meal every day at work, pack a sandwich or something healthy. Try to eat fruit also. When you go to restaurants, eat cheap and healthy stuff like salad and water.

Also check out How to have fun while living frugally.