Friday 16 March 2012

Searching and buying

Has anyone noticed that the costs of textbooks are, comparatively, OUTRAGEOUS?! You use a book for 4 months and can pay $100 (min) for even a simple one. And it just keeps going up from there. I've just spent a couple of hours searching the 'net again for reduced price textbooks for my program, and was initially excited to find a site that even has RENTAL options for books (I had no idea)! There's only one problem...

They don't sell, rent or ship Internationally. As a Canadian, I'm considered International. Poop. They have such a great racket set-up, too. You can buy new or used books and when you're finished with them, you send them back and get up to half the cost reimbursed, making it stupidly cheap to buy your textbooks.

I was feeling pretty deflated, as it doesn't leave many options for me. Several of these textbooks have inserts (CDs, access codes, etc) that I will likely need for the course, so it would be more sensible to buy them new as used doesn't guarantee those things will be included or, if they are, still accessible.

So, I perused the Amazon.com website instead and actually found some good deals on new books there. Because the dollars aren't that far apart right now, I'm still saving money and they're new items to boot. I bought 4 textbooks:

Amazon.ca price: $391.57 (free shipping)
Amazon.com price: $346.37 (incl. $20.95 shipping & $15.50 import fee)

I also bought two textbooks from Amazon.ca for $159.61 (free shipping) because they didn't have them on the US site. That leaves three, which I've made a note of. I'm hoping that by the time the books arrive, I'll have my income tax return. That, plus the money I've already set aside to cover school expenses, will cover the whole cost so far. :)

I'm still feeling overall that this is the right thing for me to do, but my friends (mostly Europeans who don't quite get this whole "quit-your-job-and-go-back-to-school" thing) have barely managed a blip of excitement for me. It just hurts a little, that's all, and has me questioning if it really IS the best thing to do. But I know that I need to do this if I want a new job - part of the updated application requirement is inclusion of a copy of your certificate! There's just no point at all applying without it.

And besides, I've already started a countdown as to how many days I have left to work (170 as of today)...

*Updated: I've removed my Followers list, not because I don't want to know who you all are, but because there's something gone wrong with the code and it's disappeared on its own! I can't find the "friend connect setting" it's talking about to fix it... >:(

5 comments:

Laura said...

I truly believe there comes a point where you have to just do what you want and not worry about what others think or say. If going back to school makes you excited, that's all that matters. I know that I would love the opportunity to go back to school full time, so pretty envious of you right now! And remember that excitement and enthusiasm is contagious. So keep sharing your excitement and soon enough, others will feel it too :)

Jane and Chris said...

I went to Uni as a mature student..it was great. Do whatever you have to do...it's YOUR life.
Jane x

Gill - That British Woman said...

Have you thought of doing Swagbucks? For every 450 Swagbucks you get a $5 Amazon.ca e-card. You can cash in for 5 x $5 Amazon e-card per month, and more of the larger gift cards. That would help with your book costs?

Leave me a comment with your email address on my blog (I won't publish it) and I'll email you more info if you're interested.

Gill

~Carla~ said...

Textbooks are CRAZY expensive! I remember buying my husbands many moons ago.. sooo much $$!!

Northern Living Allowance said...

@Laura - thank you! I was actually thinking that exact thing the other day (after I'd had a moment or two - okay, an afternoon - of being grumpy about it) and came to that conclusion. I've just started my countdown, too! :) Thank you for your support, it means a lot!

@Jane - thank you for your support in my venture. It's greatly appreciated!!

@Gill - I did Swagbucks for a bit, but never really got the hang of it. I will contact you for details, though. It sure can't hurt!

@Carla - ridiculous, really. The US prices are pretty decent, though, so I've managed to save a fair bit, to be honest. I'd like to check out the prices at the college, though, and see if I haven't paid more than I should have.