School Book Savings

College costs continue to climb and the average annual cost of textbooks and supplies is $1,137, according to CollegeBoard.com. Tuition and room and board can be so expensive that it may seem hardly worthwhile to cut costs on books, but it's important to remember that every bit of savings can help your long-term financial plan. And, saving money can become habit forming, which will also positively impact your long-term plan.

Here are five websites that may enable you to shave hundreds of dollars off of your or your child's textbook costs:

Textbooks.com advertises the best prices on textbooks-guaranteed-along with free shipping for orders over $25.00. Their site also features textbook rentals, eBook downloads and book buybacks!

If you want to rent your textbook, Textbook Rentals will search the book rental market as well as booksellers and provide you with information on the lowest priced book rental and lowest purchase price.

Go green and buy textbooks on iPad at Inkling.com! This option will not only save you money, it will save you space and time and it reduces impact on the environment.

Textbooks R Us advertises the lowest prices on college textbooks. In addition to textbook sales, they offer textbook rentals and book, movie, and game buybacks.

Amazon.com buys your old textbooks and sells used textbooks for up to 90% off. New textbooks are up to 30% off, and they even offer free two-day shipping for students!

Now that you've been able to save money on textbooks, you can feel good about spending a portion of those savings at your local bookstore, Island Books. Books are fairly inexpensive sources of entertainment and education and you can share them with friends and family. So, save some money, keep your local economy green, and learn something in the process!