how i totally won at textbooks this semester.

a while ago i wrote a post about ways to save money as a college student. one of my key points was to skip the school bookstore (and textbook rentals for that matter) and use addall.com to find the absolute best price, and then selling those books yourself on half.com. 

this has always worked really well for me, but at the time i didnt have a concrete example of exactly how beneficial this could be, since it had been quite some time since i had done such a thing. but this semester i did. 

and i totally won. 

for my "career opportunities in fashion" class last semester, i bought the book (which was $106 in the school bookstore, as if) from amazon for $76. i used it all semester, and when school got out i put it up on half.com for the going rate on that site: $90. 

awesome, right? it gets better. 

last week the book sold. right at the same time that i went to the  school bookstore to get the ISBNs for this semesters books. three classes, three books. obviously i went straight to addall.com and found that one was about $10, one was $17, was $56 (prices from addall.com, including tax and shipping). total for books this semester? $83. 

as of right now, im turning a profit on books. (not supplies though, seems like im going to need a lot of those this semester which i am not happy about). 

so this semester seems to be getting off to a great start. plus, i still have another $90 book up for sale...

have you ever defeated the textbook monster? id love to hear the story in the comments!

first day of school!

outfit details: 

shirt: target

glasses: zenni optical

phone case: the sorcerers phone

todays my first day of my first full semester of college since i was 19. yes, i did take classes last semester, but they were one unit, half semester classes, and it didnt always really feel like i was in school. it kind of felt like i just did a couple extra projects. 

this semester im taking three classes. three real classes. and to be completely honest, im nervous. 

yes, im only taking seven units, buts its spread over three completely different subjects. and these classes are long. two of them are five hours. the "short" one, is four hours. 

so im nervous about the workload, im nervous about the schedule, im nervous about keeping up with housework, meals, hobbies, work, and especially alice over the next four months. 

but im also excited. the classes im taking are pretty cool. ive got color theory on mondays, sewing on tuesdays, and fashion sketching on thursdays. two of the classes are with the teacher i had last semester, and i like her. ill make some cool projects, and maybe ill meet some new friends. 

but mainly im excited to make one more baby step toward living my dream, because thats what this whole ordeal is about, right? 

are you headed back to school this semester? how do you feel about it? excited? nervous? both? 

p.s. please notice my phone case. is it not fantastic? if youre into geeky things, (which, i mean, who ISNT?), be sure to check out my lady missy at the sorcerers phone. best. cases. ever. no, she did not pay me to say that and i bought my own case, i just wanted to draw attention to the fact that her shop is AWESOME.