money money money

Now who am I to blog about money? I have the WORST spending habits known to man. My habits have gotten better now that I work two jobs like crazy, but to give you an idea of how frivolous my spending habits were I put it like this: every time I got any sum of money, internally it was like a contest to see how fast I could spend every last penny.

Luckily this not-so-awesome trait is evolving into a more money-conscious state of mind. At the moment I am looking into some sort of retirement savings account (IRAs) since neither of my employers offer 401(k) accounts, and even CDs (if I can ever save a thousand bucks....).

So what is this post about? Patience.

Any college kid will tell you that they sell their textbooks at the end of each semester, which is totally reasonable. I mean really, what use will I have for a pre-calculus algebra textbook if I'm taking Life Science Calc II? Go ahead and sell it!

My Mistake: I'm all for the instant-gratification sale to get cash-in-hand ASAP, but then I realized how much money I was losing out on. For example, after my finals I went to my campus bookstore to see how much they would offer me for my textbooks (a chemistry textbook and a political science textbook).. "$30 each," he says. Luckily I had punched in the two book's ISBN numbers the night before into buyback sites (links below) to see how much online retailers would offer. Chegg had the highest price at $45 per book!

My Advice: Shop around.... but like my first post of this blog states, more and more people use the internet for research and services, INCLUDING textbook buybacks. Websites like Amazon.com, Chegg.com, Textbooks.com and more usually offer free shipping on top of the amount they give you in exchange for textbooks in very good condition. All you have to pay for is the box/envelope they ship in ($3 max). *I used Chegg for the first time after hearing about them from many other students, and honestly I was surprised at the turnaround. I shipped them off at my local UPS store on Thursday afternoon, they arrived Monday morning, and I received my checks in the mail on Thursday. Just when I had forgotten about the money, it was sitting in my mailbox. =) Kind of like finding a $10 bill in your dryer... free moneyyyy!

I know it's just $30, but I say this a lot especially when I'm buying non-durable goods (hey I learned something in macroeconomics! Non-durable goods are things like food, coffee, cab service, etc.. things you don't keep basically). First it's $10 here, $5 there, next thing you know you blow through your whole measly paycheck before the weekend is over and have nothing to show for it, except an appetite to spend more money you don't have. Hopefully you have crappy credit like me so you aren't urged to go out and get a credit card to continue the cycle.

*Hey I don't wish credit card debt, or any kind of debt on anyone, but I can say not having access to a line of credit helped me realize that I need to either earn more money or save more money. Not borrow it.