9 Ways to Save Money on Printer Supplies

For anyone who depends on their printer at home or for work, printer supplies are a necessary part of your routine. From dealing with ink and toner cartridges to keeping up with your paper supplies and handling occasional printhead problems, these items can quickly add up and even cost more than your printer.
 
To help both home and business users save money on their print supply routine, we’ve compiled the top 9 ways to save money on printer supplies.
  1. High-yield Original ink and toner cartridges
  2. Remember duplex printing for appropriate projects
  3. Use draft mode, ink-saving fonts, and grayscale
  4. Build up your supply stock and save with cartridge multi-packs
  5. Use draft mode and grayscale
  6. Thoroughly proofread documents before printing
  7. Remember to keep up a basic printer maintenance routine
  8. Recycle and reuse scrap paper
  9. Determine whether your printer is the best fit for your routine
Many of these tips are applicable across a number of industries and applications, whether you depend on a steady flow of commercial printing supplies or materials for larger, wide-format prints.
 
Also, if you’re on the hunt for 3D printer materials and supplies, you can save some time by skipping ahead to check out expanding range of 3D printer solutions.
original ink

1. High-yield Original ink and toner cartridges

Dealing with ink and toner cartridges is probably at the top of most users’ lists when it comes to keeping up with desktop printing supplies. Higher volume users are especially accustomed to replacing, recycling, or refilling their spent cartridges on a fairly regular basis. The first way we’ll talk about scaling back your printer supply expenses is buying higher yield cartridges.
 
This ends up with you cutting out half of the biggest part of most supply routines, and is a great way to save money on shipping or travel expenses you may usually associate with refills or ink and toner cartridge recycling.
 
You’ll find even more capacity when you add high-yield PageWide cartridges to your basket of large format printing paper supplies, which offers up to 2.5 times the usual output versus standard printer cartridges. At the very least, you can save a lot of time thanks to printer supplies, providing a structural advantage for businesses or professionals who depend on frequent large or wide-format printing.

2. Remember duplex printing for appropriate projects

Duplex or double-sided printing may conjure memories of tediously flipping pages by hand, but many printers are designed with a convenient, cost-saving automatic duplex printing feature, known as ADP for short.
 
Of course, printing double-sided pages may not be appropriate for every job, but incorporating it into your routine can definitely save you a lot of paper over time. Just check the relevant setting during your print setup and your ADP-enabled printer will do the rest.

3. Use draft mode, ink-saving fonts, and grayscale

Although it may not be possible with every print job, relying on draft settings when printing plain text or grayscale with images is a great way to extend the lifespan of your cartridges. Even shifting a small portion of your output to draft or grayscale can make a dent in your recurring costs.
 
Avoiding bold formatting for type is another small way to save extra over time. While it can sometimes be hard to judge accurately, using lighter formatting can also make an impact, particularly if you want to avoid the potential uncertainty of using draft print settings as a hedge.
 
Remember too, that some fonts use less ink than others. Changing your default font to Century Gothic, Calibri, or Times New Roman will save you ink on each print. One to avoid is Arial – it’s one of the more ink-heavy fonts out there.
hp toner

4. Build up your supply stock and save with cartridge multi-packs

You may save more or less depending on your printer configuration and the individual costs associated with its compatible cartridges, but generally buying cartridges in bulk is a good way to save. It cuts a bit off your purchase price at checkout and saves you the hassle of shopping for a replacement the next time one runs out.

5. Use more efficient single-color instead of tri-color cartridges

While a tri-color printer cartridge offers some added convenience compared with handling individual cartridges for each color, they actually tend to use ink less efficiently than the traditional, single-color option. The primary reason is that a tri-color cartridge condenses three ink cartridges into one.
 
As a result, when your print routine skews more heavily toward one of the three colors, you end up having to replace the entire cartridge before you’ve actually used up all the contents.
 
When looking at the product page for any printer, you can easily identify what type of cartridges it uses and find direct links by checking under the Ink & Paper tab. You can also click over to the specs tab and scroll down to the replacement cartridges heading where you’ll find a list of all compatible cartridge types, including standard cartridges and any appropriate high-yield XL options.

6. Thoroughly proofread documents before printing

Printing documents with mistakes or other errors is a great way to waste not only paper and ink, but energy and time as well. We can all save on headaches and unnecessary waste by taking a thorough look at all of our jobs before we hit the print button. Prevent waste (and embarrassment) by discovering any errors prior to printing. It justifies spending a little extra time on your final reading.
 
Beyond simply proofreading and looking for errors in the text, you should also take a thorough look at your print settings and format before you send the job to your printer. That way you’re sure to print only the portion of a text or webpage that you need.
 
For example, it’s easy to accidentally tack on page after page of comments or discussion when you print from a website or message board without specifying a page range.

7. Remember to keep up a basic printer maintenance routine

Although it may seem obvious, avoiding damage and wear to your printer can help it continue to function efficiently over the life of the device. Keeping both your printer and workspace dust-free and relatively dry are the best ways to reduce environmental strain and prevent unexpected damage or leaks. With a little effort you can save not only on your routine expenses but hopefully extend the overall lifespan of your printer.
 
Another possible cost saver is remembering to power down your printer when it’s not in use. Many home printers actually incorporate fast on/off features that can help here.
printer supplies

8. Recycle and reuse scrap paper

If you have access to a shredder or even just a sturdy pair of scissors, scrap paper can be a great source of packing or storage material.
 
You can even repurpose one-sided throwaways as scrap paper for daily notes or reminders. For creatives and small businesses looking to streamline their overall workflow, this is a great way to reduce environmental impact while saving time and money on your own supply shopping.
 
Recycling printer hardware and wide-format printing supplies like oversized prints and leftovers may be more challenging, but with some extra care, they can still find use as a shipping material, particularly as padding when folded over.

9. Determine whether your printer is the best fit for your routine

Although improving technology and product availability has dramatically changed printer shopping, even in the relatively recent past printers have had a bad reputation for wasting too much time and money.
 
The usual hassle of refilling ink and stocking the right kind of printer paper is enough by itself, to say nothing of the difficulties that can go along with an older machine.
This means you may be spending more on printer supplies because of a less efficient device, whether it’s too small to keep up with your print volume or just too old for regular use. 
 
Just shop the size and Instant Ink plan that best suit your needs, and keep your eyes peeled for certified printers when economy is a priority.
brother tn3330

Save time and energy in your print routine

Printer supply routines of all sizes typically have some impact on your finances and schedule, for good or bad. Hopefully, some of the suggestions here will help trim down your costs and cut down on time spent shopping for cartridges in person.

TonerDen are resellers of all original printer cartridges working with the Europe

TonerDen is engaged in providing supplies for copiers across Europe. We are an experienced professional team that is receptive to all customer inquiries. TonerDen aims to provide customers with the best deals and prices. We have a wide range of original products in stock, and the only supplies we do not buy are NON OEM. Our staff will offer competitive prices for A, B, C and D grade of boxes. All our cartridges are the best and most cost effective choice-they last the longest, clog the least and give the high quality long-lasting prints. We also organize and take in charge the transport costs and the customer can check where is the marchandise through the unique bar code. TonerDen provides fast, convenient ordering and rapid, dependable product delivery.

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