The Ultimate Guide to Saving Money on Textbooks

We've all been there. We get our class schedule and proceed to the bookstore to get our textbooks. We stand in line for 20 minutes and when we finally get to the register, we almost faint when the cashier says the total for the transaction. College students all over the U.S. are paying upwards of $500 a semester on required textbooks. I think it's time this all stopped. That's why I've written the ultimate guide to saving money on college textbooks.

Follow these simple instructions to get cheaper textbooks. I guarantee they'll be cheaper than the college bookstore!

1. When you get your class schedule, go to the bookstore, just like you always do, but this time, don't buy anything. Write down the ISBN (a 10 digit number in the lower right hand corner on every book published after the late 60s), the title, author, and edition of EVERY book you need for the semester.

2. Leave the bookstore and head to the closest computer with an internet connection.

3. Open Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox and type http://www.bigwords.com into the address bar.

4. When the page loads, type the first ISBN into the search bar in the middle of the page and hit search. If your book is not found for some reason, try the title and author of the book (type the title first and hit search and when the results come up, type in the author's last name in the box that says author and hit search).

5. When your book comes up, click on "buy (add this to bookbag)"

6. Repeat for all books that you need for the semester.

7. When you're done adding all the books for the semester, click on "Start Price Comparison".

8. Read the fun jokes on the loading page while your book list loads.

9. Check out the AWESOME deals that BIGWORDS.com brings up. If you are looking to rent your books, Bigwords has an option for that. Make sure the box that says "rentals" is clicked on the right hand side of the screen. Continue doing that for any of the optional features you want, such as faster shipping, etc.

10. When you are comfortable with the prices and the shipping times that Bigwords brings up, click on "buy these books" and Bigwords will show you what to do next!

11. Sit back and wait for your cheap textbooks to come in.