Frugal Living Tip of the Month: Printer Ink Tip

How Much Can You Save? $2.00 to $45.00 per month based on printer type & printing habits

Making It Work:

Most printers take at least two colors of cartridges: black and color. Some printers even use four or more cartridges. You’ve probably noticed the cost of those ink cartridges range anywhere from $7.79 to $179.99 each, depending on the type, name brand, and price range of your printer and its ink cartridge requirements. Thankfully, there are ways you can save money on these.

First, how much do you use your printer? Are you printing several documents each day? Ask yourself, “Is it really necessary to print so many documents?” What if you were to cut the number of documents you print by 25%? Think about it — you can file computer documents in a file folder right on your laptop or flash drive instead of printing your records and filing them in a filing cabinet. You won’t have to get up, walk to a file cabinet, and dig for it. Narrow your focus of what you print. 

Next, if you print mostly documents in black ink anyway, check to see if your printer has an “economy” print setting. This setting uses less ink and most likely uses only the black ink cartridge, rather than mixing in a bit from the color cartridge(s). Avoid using the off-brand ink cartridges. Consumer Reports says generic brands have lower quality ink and less ink as well. The costs per page to print may be close to the same either way, but you’ll go through more of the generic cartridges in the same amount of time.

 Ignore the messages automatically sent by your computer that you’re low on ink. Instead, use your own eyes to tell the story. You’ll be amazed by how many more pages you can print after the first time you’re prompted regarding low ink level. Adjust your printing habits to reduce savings on ink cartridges by nearly 25%. Make simple changes like printing less, using the economy print setting, not buying generic cartridges, and waiting until printed documents look faded or spotty before replacing them.

These changes will reduce your ink use and add up to a tidy savings every month!