College life can be pretty intense sometimes…to say the least! In the process of trying to deal with a wide variety of professors, meeting new friends and finding time to sleep, we tend to become stressed out. There are countless stories of students dropping out or cracking under the pressure, but with the right approach to things, quality of life can improve dramatically.

If you’ve found yourself struggling to keep your head above water, we recommend putting aside your studies for a while and rediscovering your ability to laugh.

Studies show that laughter has the power to relax the entire body, while helping wash away daily stressors. Seriously, if you haven’t laughed in a few days, a week, a month or a year, it is highly recommended that you stop taking life so seriously. Common problems for those who fail to find their laughter include stomach issues/ulcers, headaches, backaches, depression and other ailments.

Some Ideas for Finding Laughter

• Watch a hilarious, knee-slapping  movie
• Check out a stand-up comedy club
• Read a book by a comedian
• Invite friends over and dare to laugh together
• Go out on the town and authentically enjoy it
• Think about something that made you laugh as a kid
• Try to find the humor in daily life
• Find a laughing yoga class
• Watch some silly videos on YouTube
• Laugh at how seriously you’re taking this thing called life
• Put up funny posters around your apartment
• Scribble down hilarious sayings and read them each day

There is a fine balance that every college student needs to find. To accomplish this, it is important to take deep breaths and put things into perspective on a regular basis. Remember that college life is supposed to be fun! Yea…yea…it’s about getting amazing grades as well, but one day you’ll look back and wish you would have taken more time to enjoy life.

What makes you laugh? To help your fellow college students, share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Happy Monday, everyone! If there’s one thing that America loves, it’s football. If there’s two things America loves, it’s football and couch naps. But if there’s three things America loves, it’s football, couch naps and completely unsolicited and borderline-useless advice! So with that in mind, I offer up to you the first of many semi-regular installments of “Ask A College Grad” where I will field questions from actual readers* and answer them from the point of view of someone that graduated college. Let’s dive into the first email:

Dear College Grad,

What are your thoughts on Febreeze? I feel like it’s a miracle in a can! Whenever something stinks, I spray it down and it’s just as good as actually cleaning. I may go so far as to stop doing laundry to save money! What do you think? Good idea?

Thanks,

Obviously A Freshman

Hopefully you don’t live anywhere near Southern California. I would not want to get stuck next to you on a plane, on a bus or even just waiting in line to get into a men’s room. The mistake you’re making is thinking that Febreeze eliminates all odor. It does not. Even at its best, Febreeze only knocks out about 70% of the smell. So when your friends come over to play Madden, they can still smell the foulness of whatever is in your dorm, even if you don’t think they can.

And don’t get me started on the opposite sex. If you bring a date to your room and it stinks like Febreeze, that’s a dead giveaway that you’re too lazy to actually clean, and that something smelly is pretty close by at the moment.

My freshman year, I lived on a floor with most of my school’s football team. Instead of washing their nasty pads and jerseys after practice, all the players would soak their equipment in Febreeze and stash them in the hallway. Our shared lobby smelled like some kind of horror than even H.P. Lovecraft wouldn’t dare describe. To this day, I can’t smell Febreeze without gagging.

Do yourself a favor and wash your clothes. You’ll thank me.

(And seriously, if you don’t own At The Mountains Of Madness already, buy it from us. For under $3, you have no excuses not to.)

*May not be actual readers

Welcome to the new and improved Valore Books Blog!

Does it look the same? Sure!

Is it in the same place? You bet!

Does it still taste the same? Ummm…why not?

So what makes it new and improved? I’m glad I was able to goad you into asking. In the past, we’ve used this blog to let our customers know about all the great things that have been going on here at Valore Books. We’ve brought you promos, contests, savings and the all-around book-ness that you would expect from a blog for a textbook marketplace.

We’re ready to expand. You’ll still be able to find all the breaking Valore Books news about how to get the best prices on cheap textbooks, free shipping both ways on textbook rentals and how to enter our extremely generous contests. But on top of that, we’re going to be bringing you news from outside of our little office. Anything a college student would be interested in, we’ll have for you. Will there be dogs playing basketball? A list of the biggest rip-offs in college? Not-as-subtle-as-I-think-they-are references to Nicolas Cage movies? Continued advice on how to save money on books? Free stuff? Answers in order: yes, yes, probably, yes, and oh yes.

Come on back to this page a few times a week to see what we’re up to. I promise to make it worth your while. If not, I’ll write you a personal apology note. There are buttons to bookmark this page or add us into your RSS feed. So really, you’re all out of excuses now.  If you don’t need books right now, come around for the awesome content and free stuff.

If you don’t need free stuff…well, I just don’t know what to tell you.

Wait, yes I do: Please loan me some money.

It’s that time of year again and the crew here at ValoreBooks.com is already thinking about ridiculous secret Santa ideas.

Which got me thinking… If you’re like me, you’re tired of the same old gifts under the tree every year. Aunt Margaret will never understand why you don’t like the sweater and grandma always thinks she’s doing you a solid by stocking you up on socks every year.

Sure, holidays are about spending time with the ones you love and not about the gifts, but let’s be honest, if someone is spending money on you this year, they might as well buy something you’ll like and can use, right?

With that being said, I created a list of 5 things that I would love to see under the tree this year in hopes that someone in my family would read this and act on it. Grandma, put down the ties.

Hopefully this list will help you figure out some gift ideas for a family member or significant other as well.

Top 5 Alternative Gift Ideas for Adventurous College Students:

1. Second Tongue:

Christmas is the perfect time to start thinking about New Years Resolutions and for me, it’s learning a second language. I took some Spanish in high school and I think it would be awesome to learn more so I can travel. The problem is, classes at college are boring as hell and I rarely learn anything. Also, Rosetta Stone would be an option but it’s so expensive. The alternative is Bueno, entonces… by General Linguistics. It’s a 30-class Spanish learning program that is the highest rated Education App on iTunes and is now available on DVD or instant download. They’re actually offering the program at a pretty nice discount over the holidays. 6-DVD set for $99 (from $199) and the instant download version for $97 (from $147).

Check out their website here: http://f.generallinguistics.com/latin-america/

Check out their Facebook page for deals and giveaways: http://www.facebook.com/buenoentonces/

Cheap Alternative: A Spanish to English Dictionary

2. Airline Vouchers:

I’m a big believer in experiences over “things” so I think this would be the perfect gift for anyone (like me). Most major airlines offer gift cards you can purchase for somebody else to use at their own discretion. Depending on your home airport, I think Southwest Airlines is the way to go. A $100 gift card could go a long way and the recipient of the gift won’t get stung with baggage fees when they fly, unlike on other airlines. They were actually doing a big sale recently for $59 one-way flights that I jumped on as well.

Get the gift cards here: http://www.southwest.com/gift-card/home.html

Cheap Alternative: Buy a $2 notebook and make a bunch of paper airplanes.

3. New Underwear:

This one goes out to all the girlfriends out there who have been begging their boyfriends to throw away those awful, holy boxers. Now’s your chance! New underwear always feels great and it gives me an extra bounce in my step. For the best of the best, Try Exofficio or Under Armour boxer briefs to change his life. They are a little bit more expensive ($25/per) but trust me, you will definitely notice the difference. These things breath like you wouldn’t believe! They’re the perfect gift for college guys to because they don’t start smelling bad until the 3rd or 4th day!

Checkout the Exofficio site: http://www.exofficio.com/

Checkout the UnderArmour site: http://www.underarmour.com/

Cheap Alternative: Baby Powder.

4. Alternatives Classes:

Whether it’s martial arts or learning the guitar, there are so many places around town that offer great alternative classes. I know most college kids are overwhelmed with classes as it is but I think what you learn shouldn’t always be mandatory. It can also be a great escape from your everyday routine and maybe a new hobby to pickup with your girlfriend or boyfriend. This could also be a big win for you as well, think about it… you give the gift of “1-month cooking classes” and then you get to “test” all the progress! It’s perfect.

Check your local area for classes, seminars or continuing education in your area.

Cheap Alternative: Put together a video using a bunch of random tutorials from Youtube.com

5.Technology Accessories:

I was originally going to mention the iFlip Camera because it’s awesome, but I think everybody already has that on their wish list. If you don’t, you should. But some other great gift giving gadgets are things like an external hard drives, webcam or tripod. I don’t think “non-techy” people think about computer accessories for Christmas but they’re definitely a must have for college students. One thing I really love is the Gorillapod Flexible Tripod (for less than $20).

Check out the Gorillapod site: http://joby.com/gorillapod

Cheap Alternative: Use your old textbooks that you can’t sell back to ValoreBooks.com to position your camera the way you want it.

This post was written by a former ValoreBooks.com executive who now runs the popular travel blog, Tourist2townie.

Penn State’s Snap, Crackle, Pop-The Daily Collegian’s Arts Blog, today featured an interview with our CEO, Bobby Brannigan as he discusses our recent Jersey Shore Parodies and Beaver Fever Strikes Manhattan video. You can read the full article, here. What do you think of the videos? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com/ValoreBooks so you don’t miss the next episode!