Below is a guest post from Katie at CouponKatarina. I hope you find it helpful when considering ink and paper. I post a lot of printable coupons and some a “ink wasters” as they take the whole page for one coupon! Below are some tips to help you save some money.
Adjust Your Print Settings. If you go into your printer properties, you can adjust it to only print in black and white or some have a “draft” setting. I have NEVER had an issue redeeming a coupon printed in black and white as opposed to color. Just make sure your print setting still prints the “watermark” which is the faded image and wording that echos what’s on the coupon.
Buy Refurbished Ink. My “old” HP printer did just fine using a refurbished cartridge that was available on Ebay for only $5.00 shipped. These don’t hold as much ink as a brand new full size cartridge, so you’ll have to do the math and figure out if it saves you in the end. Sometimes it is better to just go to Staples, for example and use coupon and/or earn rewards. **be sure to check your printer warranty to make sure using other brand ink does not void the warranty**
Refill your own Ink. I have NEVER done this, but I know it’s successful for those who are brave enough. Ink refill kits are far less expensive than a brand new cartridge.
Recycle Your Ink Cartridges. Staples accepts your used cartridges up to 10 per calendar month, and rewards your with $2 back in Staples Rewards per cartridge. .
Take advantage of “FREE” Paper Sales. Staples is notorious for offering FREE after Rebate or Rewards paper! Keep your eye out for those and you may never have to pay for paper again!
Cancel Print. Some coupons print with a big ad, which is a great advertisement for the manufacturer, but a big waste of ink for us! Assuming you have no other print jobs in your queue, just hit the cancel button on your printer after you see that the coupon has printed. Coupon prints – no wasting of ink! If you’re printing your second copy, simply put the same piece of paper back in the printer so that the second coupon prints on the other end. Just make sure you hit the cancel button again after you see the coupon print.
Reuse Paper. Even if a piece of paper has been printed on, if the other side is blank – it’s usable! I have been known to print coupons on scrap paper. I just make sure I put big X-marks on the scrap side, to ease confusion. If a cashier gives you an issue, a good come-back is: “Well, this coupon I clipped from the newspaper insert also has something else on the back of it. Does that void this coupon too?” (oh snap!)
Buy a Printer that uses lower priced ink. I recently purchased the Kodak 5250 All-In-One Wireles Printer. It is currently priced at $99.99 on Amazon (price can change at any time). Now, let me warn you – the reviews on this printer are not the best. But, I think some of these people have unrealistic expectations. I have not had ANY problems with my printer and just love it. The best part is, the black ink cartridge is only $10 at Walmart!! I only use it to print my coupons (and other random things)…so I don’t know what the “photo quality” is.
jessica says
i actually recommend the brother hl 2240 compact laser printer. I was refered from another bloggers page southernsavers.com to purchase this and have not regretted it yet it prints black only i get the cartridges for 20 on amazon with swagbucks rewards and i still have the original cartridge in just waiting to run out up to 400 prints so far and says it can go another 200 or so with the starter cartridge i used to use the kodak esp or another one of same company and it required the color ink with the black ink and even though the black was only 10.00 at target the color was another 20 or so and i never ever used it but every three months like clock work it wouldnt print until i got a new color cartridge even though we only printed in black so in the long run lasers are the way to go everyone
Sandy says
Funny, my printer died today. Literally looked like a massacre, magenta ink was pouring out the bottom. So sad. Had to buy a new printer today. Went to Best buy, sale price on an Epson all in one was $169 but they were out of stock & I needed to print thank yous like, yesterday. Next I stopped at compUSA and asked if they price matched, they said yes but then actually couldn’t match the sale price as they would lose money on the sale (lame). Went next door to Staples, got the same printer, they had the same sale price as Best buy. Very happy. Actual retail price before sale: $299. My vacuum broke this week too. New Dyson: $350. Expensive week here.
Kathy says
I always turn my paper around to print 2 on the same page, it leaves space in the middle so I always look on Target.com and print 1 coupon and it prints right in the middle so there is no wasted space.
mistie h says
i have the same printer for almost 2 years now. it did very well i printed 60 or so photos oneday with ink to spare.they looked as though i got them at a photo center
Daniel says
Refilling black ink is very easy for all the printers I have ever used. If you can depress the plunger of a syringe, you can refill ink.
An even cheaper idea though is to get a basic laser printer. I can get two toner cartridges for $28 shipped and it lasts for over 4000 pages.
Ailin says
Daniel, what make and model is your printer? I have a Samsung laser printer, but one toner cartridge is $60-70. Still cheaper than ink, though, since it prints around 2500 pages. However, yours sounds like a much better deal.
Alisa says
Every wednesday best buy takes 10 percent offs ink online and in store
norma breitfeller says
I never use new paper to print coupons. I have 4 kids, 3 in school and they bring soooo many papers home, either graded work or messages that are completely blank on the back. Everyday when I go through their bookbags I sort out the printable paper and place it on my printer shelf. I have never had a problem, even with crayon coloring on the back of the coupon!
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Great idea!