<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I see a thread discussing what to bring to college, but I didn't see one discussing on how to save money on the things we need. I started college Fall of 2011 and was foolish enough to buy from my college bookstore completely ignorant to how much I could have saved, and ended up spending hundreds of dollars on books I could have either rented or bought for literally less than a dollar. Since then, I've basically became discount junkie and spent about $60 total for my Spring semester. I also saved a ton of money on dorm necessities like bedding, a mini-fridge, etc.</p>
<p>So, I thought it would be a great idea to have a thread sharing each others' ideas and ways to save money, as many of us are on a limited budget. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>My first reccomendation is utilizing renting books. I've found this to be useful to me because it was cheaper, and I knew I didn't have to find somewhere else to sell it. I used it once for the semester, and then returned it. Some sites will even give you a rebate for sending it back before the due date.</p></li>
<li><p>My second reccomendation is a great comparison shopping site called SHOP.COM, a site my friend introduced me to a few months ago and this has been my #1 destination for buying online, because they offer a free program called CASHBACK, meaning you get up to 50% cashback on all of your purchases on the site and from it's partner stores. I like it in particular because it includes thousands of relevant partner stores like Bookbyte, Chegg, Textbooks.com, and or sites like Target, Wal-Mart, for clothes, shoes, bedsheets, or whatever. So, basically what you do is, you login to your SHOP.COM account, click on the partner store you want, and it redirects you to the site. When you make a purchase there SHOP.COM's system knows you made a transaction, and you'll receive cashback in your account on SHOP. SHOP.COM is entirely free, but you have to have a referral link to create an account, and I use my friend's which is SHOP.COM/NEG</p></li>
<li><p>My third recommendation is getting into thrift shopping. It's something alot of kids at my university have really gotten into. Especially for those who are into the vintage style trends. My mother has been a thrift store addict forever, and I'm constantly rejected the idea of buying used clothes or merchandise, but I've really gotten into it as of lately and I'm finding alot of useful household utilities for my apartment that would have costed me hundreds more had I bought it from some place like IKEA. I literally got a clean, leather sofa to seat around 4 for the price of $15</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Discuss!</p>