Printer ink cartridges aren't cheap. If you're like most people, you wouldn't mind saving some money on your printer ink cartridges. In this article, I'm going to show you several great ways that you can trim a few bucks off your printer ink cartridge budget.
Money saving tip #1: Choose the correct print quality
When you print a document, you can choose various print qualities. Generally, the higher quality you choose, the more ink your printer will use. Not to mention that higher qualities take longer, as well. For many documents, you can change the print quality to the lower quality setting. Depending on your printer, the low quality setting might be called "draft", "low quality", "quick", etc.
Here is how to change the print quality when you're printing a document. Once you click print, a box will pop up. Select the printer you wish to use, then click "Preferences". Another window will then pop up. What the window looks like will depend on what printer you're using, but most of them will look at least somewhat similiar to each other. Choose your print quality, then click OK.
Note: You will not want to use the low quality setting for and of the following documents:
1: Adobe PDF files
2: Any file that you will want to copy, fax, or scan later
3: Most images
4: Any document that you need a sharp, quality print on
Money saving tip #2: Shop around for the best deal
If your printer is like most, it pops up a window when your ink is low, and gives you a button to buy replacement ink cartridges. Instead of buying your ink via clicking on that button, try shopping around for your replacement ink cartridges. There are many places that offer substantial discounts on ink, and you could save some money, just by visiting http://www.ink-guide.com
Also, keep in mind that your local office supply store will likely be an expensive source of ink. You'll do much better shopping for replacement ink catridges online.
Money saving tip #3: Consider buying another brand of ink
Just because your printer was made by XYZ Company doesn't mean that you have to buy ink from XYZ Company. You can shop around for different brands of ink cartridges, and you might save some money. You may not want to buy generic ink, but at least check out the other brand names of ink cartridges. Just be sure that the ink cartridge you buy says on the label that it will fit your printer.
Money saving tip #4: If all else fails, buy a laser printer
If you use a fair number of ink cartridges, you might want to consider buying a laser printer. Laser printers use toner (like a copy machine), instead of ink cartridges. Toner for a laser printer costs about a quarter as much as for an inkjet printer (per sheet printed).
The draw back to laser printers is that they are often more expensive than inkjet printers. I have a bottom of the line Dell black and white Laser printer, and I've been very pleased with it. We bought it for less than two hundred dollars. Based on the money we've saved on replacement ink cartridges, buying it was a good decision. However, it would only make financial sense to buy a laser printer if you printed quite a few documents every day.
I hope that these tips will help you save some money on your printer cartridges!
