The good news, though, is that if you give thoughtful gifts, they don’t have to cost very much. Indeed, you can give inexpensive gifts, as long as you manage to make them more personal. This has its own set of challenges. However, an inexpensive gift that shows your thoughtfulness will be more appreciated than a pricier gift that is impersonal and poorly thought out.

Just remember: For most of your loved ones, it really is thought that counts. So make sure you give it your best, and any gift you give will be a success.

Post from: EveryJoe

Video: Peyton Manning Gives Bad Gifts

1. Student boards and online book swaps: Many university student centers offer helpful boards where you can find students looking to sell books, or to swap them. Some campuses even have online book exchange web sites where you can locate those looking to sell or swap their text books.
2. Buy used online: We regularly get my husband’s textbooks used from Amazon. All you need is the ISBN. Enter it into Google, or at some other book site, and see if you can find used books for sale. Often, you can get these books for cheaper than the used price at the university bookstore.
3. Alternative bookstores: Some college towns have alternative university bookstores. You can go to these physical locations to find good deals on used textbooks.

It is also worth noting that you can usually sell your old textbooks in these exact places. You will never get back what you paid for a textbook — new or used — but you can recoup some of it.

Image source: greenasian via Flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Save Money on Textbooks: Buy Used

Discount gift cards usually have balances that aren’t being used available for less than the value of the card. Sometimes stores offer gift cards for less than their available balances. In either case, it is possible to use Gift Card Granny to peruse a number of different options, including $50 restaurant gift cards for $45 — among other deals that can save you 5% to more than 50%.

And you don’t have to get these deals only as gifts. If you like golf, you can get a $50 Callaway gift card for $22.50. Shopping for discount gift cards is a good way for you to find great deals on merchandise that you are interested in buying for yourself.

Image source: robinsonsmay via Flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Discount Gift Cards from Gift Card Granny

Imagine my utter shock and disbelief when I got an email from Apple which read “Now Open: Apple Online Store, Philippines“. Whoa?! It’s not April 1 so it must not be a joke. It wasn’t. Within minutes I was able to confirm that indeed our country has it’s very own online Apple store.

It was really a surprise that this is finally true. I figured an online store was still years away. The Philippine market has been growing steadily and Apple must have recognized that it might be time for an online Apple store.

It’s an exciting time. We’ll see if this takes off here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple To Philippines, Here’s Your Online Store!