If you are a college student, you know the every-semester struggle of getting the textbooks you need at a fair or dirt-cheap price, because let's face it, those extra dollars need to be spent on coffee to wake you up in the morning or keep you up at night, not on books that will be outdated within the next year or two.

I'm sure every semester the debate is the same: Do you go to six different websites and order early and risk not needing the book at all, or do you spring the extra cash at the school bookstore out of convenience after the first few days of classes so you're not caught in the bought-it-but-don't-need-it scenario?

I always order my books well ahead of time. I've always needed them, or if the professor doesn't use it, I'd still rather have it for reference. Whether or not you want to play the risk game is up to you, but here are a few things I've picked up that are risk-free:

1. If it's a novel, buy it used. You can get most novels for $5 or less on Amazon.

2. If it's an anthology (probably for that required English course), rent or buy, used. Normally, you can find one for a fair price that doesn't have a lot of writing in it, if that's something you want. Though, I do like the writing, as it offers me assistance or different insight when reading the text.

3. If it's a textbook for science or math, I've normally tried to rent used beforehand. But I also know many students will share a single book. For the more expensive books, this is as good a strategy as any.

4. See if a friend has already taken the class and is willing to loan or sell you the book.

So, you know you gotta order some of your books, how do we go about doing this? This is the strategy that has served me well, and one that has been cultivated over the past seven semesters:

1. Look at the prices for textbooks on the school's website. As the semester draws closer and closer, your school should have a listing of the books you'll need. Open that in one tab, and in the second tab, open up the Cheapest Textbooks website. This is the holy grail for textbook shopping. It's not a site that sells books; it's a search engine to help you find the cheapest prices, compared to the list price.

2. Using the list from your school, type in info about the book you're looking for. You can include edition, the author, or search by -- get this -- the ISBN (the 10- or 13-digit number near the barcode of the book).

3. Once you select the book you're after, it will bring you to the search page, and from there you can select which edition you need to get by clicking the green "Cheapest Price" button to the left of the page.

4. The site then brings you to the main page for the textbook, and at the top it gives you the listing of prices.

It is from here that you can immediately compare the prices you can find the book online for and the prices your school is offering you. As an English major, I've been lucky in the fact that my books have never cost a lot, but I know it's a very different story for those of you that are science majors out there. So, I went to my school's website and selected the textbook needed for a 450-level bio class.

If you notice, the book new would be over $100 at the school bookstore. The Cheapest Textbooks website has the list price at $99, but has listed a book seller that would sell this book new for less than $70.

I also searched the book at Barnes & Noble, thinking they, like my school, would also list the book at a few dollars above the list price to make a profit.

Now, whether Barnes & Noble is able to list the book below the list price because they are a huge bookstore and can afford to do such a thing by upcharging something else in the store, I can't be sure, because I'm not the CEO of this company, nor am I anything close to an economics or business student. I think it can be agreed upon, however, that the school price was the highest one listed. Even if it was only by a few dollars for the book itself, remember the tax added and shipping -- and think what you could spend those dollars on instead! Coffee, food, clothing sale, movie, a full tank of gas, the list goes on and on!

5. If the price listed is cheaper than what your school is selling for, you can scroll down on the page, and from there you'll find companies selling the book, the condition of that book, the price, shipping, tax, and total price of the book, and a button that will bring you to the site through which you can purchase the book, if you so desire.

From there it continues to prices to buy the book new.

Then there is a section for renting books.

And separate sections for renting books for a shorter term than your normal semester.

This site, as awesome as it is, even includes ebook prices.

6. After I choose which site to buy or rent from, I click the link. Over the years you'll find sites you like, either because you already have an account with them, or because shipping is free, shipping back is free, or they provide you with the packaging to ship back rented textbooks. In my seven semesters as a college student, I've set up accounts with four or five different booksellers for all these reasons and because they're reliable.

7. Once I select the book, all I do is add it to my shopping cart. It's very likely that you will purchase more than one book from the same site, and the Cheapest Textbooks website has coupon codes that you can use. Most are getting a discount off an order $70 or more or something like that, so sit tight until you have all your books picked out, and then check out all at once. You might be able to save a few extra dollars if your order is eligible for coupon use.

8. After every purchase, I update my list. This is probably one of the most important rules about shopping for textbooks in such a way. This is the list in which you will keep track of all your textbook purchases or rentals, and where you rented them from, as well as the date they're due. On the back of this list, you will write the site you rented from, the username and password that you used. Then you will put this list somewhere you won't lose it. Everyone has a spot. A cork board, a journal, a piggy bank, taped to the desk at home. I don't care where it is, just put it somewhere safe.

This is an example of what the front of my list looks like:

This is an example of what the back of my list looks like:

At the end of every semester, I take down the list, log into my accounts, and do what I need to do to send the the books I rented back. I'll normally save the box they came in if it wasn't destroyed, and when renting, most sites give you the option to decide on the return date, at no extra cost, so I make sure it's due a week after finals.

I won't lie to you, this method can certainly be time consuming, but it is the cheapest. My textbooks, even as an English major, could have easily been over $400, but by shopping this way, I've been able to keep it under $200 every single semester. No joke. I brag about it on Facebook every time.

So, do yourself a favor. Price-check, and buy/rent cheap.

Happy shopping! May you save many dollars!