It’s that time of year again: the holidays are mostly over, the days are getting a little bit longer (thanks, winter solstice!), and college students everywhere are preparing to head back to school for the spring semester.

Part of that preparation is buying the required books for spring classes, which can be really expensive, especially after the holiday season. As someone who has thousands of pages to read each semester (oh the joys of being an English major!) I have to buy a LOT of books.

This semester’s total was somewhere around 30. Through my campus bookstore, this would have cost about $440, but instead, I purchased them all for about $270. Quite a difference, right? Read on for my tips and tricks to save money on your books this semester.

1. Use Slugbooks as a price comparison tool.

Slugbooks isn’t a retailer, but it’s a handy comparison tool. It compares places to buy, rent, or trade your books and shows you the lowest price from each retailer.

2. Thriftbooks is proof that a god exists.

Thriftbooks is by far one of the cheapest ways to purchase your books. Not only are the books dirt cheap (I’m talking under $4 for most novels and anthologies you’ll need in literature classes), plus it’s free shipping on any order over $10. Thriftbooks also has a great rewards program - a $5 off coupon for every $50 you spend - and there’s always active discount codes. You'll get a discount if you sign up for their email list, and another 15% off if you download and order through their app.

3. Use your library.

Oftentimes, your professors will put the required texts on hold at the university library. Even if you’d rather have the physical copy to take home with you, you can copy the sections of the book that you will need at a fraction of the cost it would’ve been to purchase the book yourself.

4. Check your school’s research databases.

Through your university library, you probably have access to a whole host of research databases, including sites like JSTOR. With a little bit of searching, you can probably find various journal articles and other texts through your library for free.

5. Check your school’s Facebook groups or your local buy-sell-trade page.

You can get deals from other students, with the added bonus of having their notes in the margins.

6. Search the internet for PDFs.

And of course, you can always do a quick google search to find PDF copies of various texts.

Hopefully, these tips help you save a bit of money on your books this semester, so you still have cash leftover for things like food and rent.