Want to Lend a Hand While Saving Money?

Today, I'm going to talk about two things that are near and dear to my heart: learning and Operation Smile.

I don't think I've talked about it on the blog before, but I love school.  Yes, I was one of those obnoxious people who really enjoyed school/learning.  During my junior year of high school, I decided I wanted to graduate early, so I did, and three years later, at barely 20, I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Business Administration - Marketing degree.

At that time, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to get my MBA or JD, so I took all the pertinent tests, you know the GMAT, LSAT, and even the GRE for good measure.  I filled out applications for law school, but decided not to send them in and instead, go ahead and get my MBA since I was "ahead of the game."

I say all of this to say: all of that school and studying meant I had to buy books.  And lots and lots of them.  I also may have been the person who didn't sell her books back because I didn't think I'd get much money for them and I might need them one day.  (I would like to add that I have referred to some of my business books since I've been working, too, and only recently, threw out some of those I don't think I'll be needing like physical science and speech.)  I think about all of the money that I (ok, my parents) spent on books and the amount of time I've actually used them, and it makes me realize that the money could have gone to other things like clothes (if you want to think shallow) or awesome causes like Operation Smile (if you feel like being noble today).

If you've been out of the college scene for a few years like me, you may not know about this great new thing that students can do: textbook rentals.  CampusBookRentals.com is one place where students can rent their textbooks for a fraction of the cost of purchasing them from their college bookstore or that unofficial bookstore down the street.  And when I say a fraction of the cost, I mean 40-90% less than what they would pay in a bookstore.

Don't believe me?  Check this out:


I picked this consumer behavior book to test since that was one of my favorite classes in undergrad.  The list price for this book is $292, but through CampusBookRentals.com, you can rent it for only $37.93! Talk about savings!

In addition to paying a fraction of the cost to rent a textbook, CampusBookRentals.com also gives free shipping both ways, offers flexible renting periods, and for those students who are like me, CampusBookRentals.com allows you to highlight in your rented books.

Another great perk in my opinion is that they donate to Operation Smile with each textbook that's rented.  If you aren't familiar with Operation Smile, it is an international children's medical charity that heals children's smiles by providing those born with facial deformities like a cleft palate or cleft lip (which can make eating, smiling, and even talking impossible) with reconstructive surgery.

Operation Smile has been around since 1982 and since then, it's provided over 3.5 million comprehensive evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries.  You see, in many countries, when children are born with these types of deformities (this specific type happens once every three minutes), they often aren't able to get treatment and as a result, many are cast out of normal life and some die.

To learn more about CampusBookRentals.com and how you can be a part of changing a child's life through your textbook rental, click here.

For more information on Operation Smile, please click here.

And just for fun:




This post was sponsored by CampusBookRentals.com.

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