Back to Class with CampusBookRentals.com

This post was sponsored by CampusBookRentals.com. The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I've partnered with CampusBookRentals.com in the past, but this time around I can share my personal experience (spoiler - super convenient and easy)!

My boyfriend Andrew is finishing up his undergrad degree, so last semester we ordered two of the books he needed from the website. All he had to do was search by title or isbn #, pick a rental period, and order. CampusBookRentals takes care of your shipping and they even provide a return envelope so you literally drop your books in the mail when the semester is over. Andrew ended up getting the wrong book for one of his classes, and CampusBookRentals made it easy to return it for credit.

I would absolutely encourage Andrew to rent again from CampusBookRentals. When I was in college, I hated the buy-back price I'd be offered from the book store on campus, so I tried to resell them on Amazon. If someone wanted to purchase my book, I then had to get all the shipping materials myself and make a trip to the post office. Ever heard the expression time is money? I definitely appreciate the ease of renting!

If you did buy books and are looking to make some money back, CampusBookRentals has another program to help! It's called RentBack.com, and although I haven't used it myself yet, RentBack is new initiative that allows students to rent the textbooks they own - to other students, which is awesome because it makes you 2-4x more money compared to what you'd make through buy-back options!

Some other perks of CampusBookRentals.com:
-save 40-90% off of book store prices
-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-flexible renting periods
-we donate to Operation Smile with each textbook rented

That last perk is one of the best. I love to support companies that give back, and Operation Smile is a great cause. You should visit their site, but Operation Smile is an international children's medical charity that performs safe, effective cleft lip and cleft palate surgery, and delivers postoperative and ongoing medical therapies to children in low and middle income countries.

I hope you will consider renting books this semester. I'm not lying when I say that I wouldn't go back to the traditional method of buying books. If you have any questions about renting, ask in the comments!

Here's a quick video explaining exactly how it works!

Renting Textbooks

Classes have started back up for many of you this week (or maybe you've been enjoying snow days!), and if you haven't gotten your textbooks yet, consider renting instead of purchasing. I'm not currently in school, though considering going back, but who can forget the steep cost of buying books each semester and the pure agony felt when they are considered too outdated to sell back mere months later?

My friends at CampusBookRentals.com asked me to talk about the perks of renting and also about a new program they have where you can actually rent out your books to others. Pretty cool, huh?

So why rent?

• you can save 40-90% off of bookstore prices
• free shipping both ways
• you can highlight in the textbooks
• they offer flexible renting periods
• a donation is made to Operation Smile for each textbook rented

If you want to know exactly how it works, watch this short video.

I mentioned the pain our bank accounts feel when we try to sell books back at the end of the semester and are rejected or underpaid. RentBack.com sounds like a really cool solution! I wish this had existed when I was in school. RentBack is new initiative that allows you to rent the textbooks you own to other students. You will make 2-4x more money compared to what you'd make through buyback options! No more feeling screwed at the end of the semester!

I'm definitely trying this out when I return to school, and encouraging my boyfriend to use the site as well this semester. Not only is it hassle free and saving me time and money, but part of my money is going to a great charity. Operation Smile provides safe surgical care to children born with a cleft. Did you know that 10% of these babies will die before they reach a year old? With staggering numbers like that, it's no wonder there's a whole operation in place to fix it. I really love when companies give back - just another reason to support CampusBookRentals!

What's your experience with renting textbooks? I'd love to hear a firsthand account!

This is a sponsored post from CampusBookRentals.com. All opinions are my own.

Living the Frugal Life

This post is brought to you by CampusBookRentals.com! I'm personally done with school, at least for now, but I know many of you still are at it, so here's another resource when looking for affordable textbooks!

CampusBookRentals.com provides lots of great perks:
-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices

-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-15 days grace period
-flexible renting periods

Campus Book Rentals also recently launched a program to rent your old books to other people. They've found that you will make 2-4 times more than if you sell your book back to the store (and in my experience, the store won't even buy it back half the time). Learn more about this at RentBack.com!

Couldn't find straight up photos of me with textbooks, but here is a flashback - studying for my first set of college finals! Seems like forever ago...

So before I let you go, let's talk about Operation Smile for a minute! Did you know that a cleft palate can cause ear disease and dental problems? It can also impair speech and make it difficult to eat and drink. Approximately 1 in 500-700 births result in a cleft palate.


Operation Smile mobilizes a world of generous hearts to heal children's smiles and transform lives across the globe. They believe that all children deserve to live their lives with dignity, and that for those suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate or other facial deformities, dignity begins with a smile. Driven by a universal compassion for children, they work worldwide to repair childhood facial deformities by delivering safe, effective surgery and related medical care directly to patients.


Campus Book Rentals donates to Operation Smile with each book rented!

Not only are you getting a great deal on an originally overpriced book, but you're donating to a great cause. As you start looking at books for summer classes or selling back books at the end of the spring semester, consider CampusBookRentals.com so you can spend your hard earned money on other, more important things!

it's been a while. sorry colleen!

so much has happened lately, good and bad. and i'm about to graduate from college, which is crazy. i keep thinking about how i need to do a bunch of stuff and see a lot of people before i leave.

anyway, the someone still loves you boris yeltsin concert that i set up was last monday. i put so much time into it, and it was definitely worth it. a lot of people at ferris like them now! and i'm just proud of myself for organizing the whole thing. the band stayed at our house after the show and we had a great time chatrouletting, drinking, and exchanging recipes and stories. i don't think many people can say they hang out with their favorite band all night, so as dorky as it sounds, it was really kind of a dream come true. yeah!

in other news, i've met a lot of great people lately. i'm really upset that i didn't meet any of them sooner, because now i'm leaving forever in three weeks! er, going to port huron for the summer and not coming back to big rapids in the fall. but seriously, better late than never i guess. i'm afraid to graduate. ughhh.

photo from the show: )

teach me photography?

so i've been back at school since wednesday evening, which blows my mind because time has moved both fast and slow, as bright eyes has noted. i worried all break about coming back here and hurting people's feelings because i'm a weird girl and now i don't have to worry at all it seems. all of my problems went away and have been replaced by new ones. i'm not liking it too much.

class begins tomorrow and like every other semester in college i could really care less. i'm not worried or anxious or excited; bring it on. i need to force myself to go into work also. it's so easy for me not to go. if my ear starts feeling less fragile i can finally go to the gym as well.

i made a giant list of things to do this semester that i HAVE to do. we've already done some of them including making smoothies and playing ddr for a workout. it's hard for me to make anything like a new year's resolution since i only know what the year holds for me through may when i graduate. it's super crazy that i'm going to graduate from college. i have zero plans right now, so please don't ask about them and remind me that it's time for RL (that's real life). besides my list of things to do to enjoy my semester, i plan to talk to the people that matter to me more often. i used to go for weeks without talking to shelby or colleen and i can't let that happen anymore! i'm also really looking forward to sxsw in march. instead of worrying about a multitude of things i can't control, i'll just try to think about that and listen to LOTS of music in preparation.

i've never really liked sundays anyway.

yesterday i had a tympanoplasty surgery to fix the hole in my eardrum. they shaved off some of the hair around my ear, and i'm sad. but other than that, i'm in good shape. (get the reference...?) anyway, hopefully the constant ringing in my ear will stop and i'll be able to hear better. at least i can swim underwater again.

today i'm going to lunch with annie and mandi, and later on hopefully seeing colleen. i might go back to ferris tomorrow, even though i'm a little weary because i have my hands full there. uhh, yeah. but this semester should be a great time. it's my last one, which is pretty terrifying. what to dooo, what to do.


time for a crazy semester.