You know how your mom and dad tell you they walked up hill both ways … in the snow … when going to school? Yeah. That probably didn’t happen (I hope it didn’t because that wouldn’t be cool for sure!)

A real story is going to the “good” bookstore in a college town (there is always a good one and a not so good one!) Once you get there, you are fighting the crowds to find your list of books or find empty shelves. Being thrifty, used books were always bought when possible. The only new books I ever bought were when the professor put out a new edition … probably so they could get paid more for more books being bought. (I think they did that on purpose!) Once I had my mound of heavy engineering books I would have to wait in the super long line to buy them. Ever wait in the bookstore line with your mom … and dad … and little brother … and your little sister?! ummm, yeah. Mom and dad bought my books so I had to the line wait if I wanted them to buy them … I wasn’t passing up the offer for them to pay (it was part of the deal we had on who paid for what when I was in college) so I waited. My mom must have been so sick of those lines after three kids!

Now the real excitement was selling my books back. I would rush to take my mound of books back to the bookstore before the semester ended and I left campus. There was never a good time for this. I was generally packing to leave campus but I wanted the cash when I sold back my books so I had to make time!! Selling back books is a great budget saver … my fall semester sell back money was always my Christmas gift fund.;)

Now that I take classes online, I have been buying textbooks online. I find it to be a challenge to find the books I need at times. I want to be cheap … errr, thrifty and budget-minded and buy used books. I want to make sure it is a book that isn’t missing pages or drawn in by a two year old. My two year sees paper as paper and will draw on anything he finds … anything. Thank you little dude for a pretty picture on my homework. <Insert forced smile here.> When you can’t see a used book, it is hard to buy a used book so I have limited where I search and leaves thrifty me wanting more options!

That is all about to change though since I have learned about eCampus.com. They sell new and used books PLUS they buy books back! I need to take my own advice from undergraduate years and try to sell back some books that are collecting dust from graduate class. I don’t have a bookstore to sell them back to so they have just sat there after each semester. Maybe I will be singing a nice little Christmas gift fund this year after all!

Disclosure: This post has been brought to you eCampus.com.