Twenty Ways to Save Money Printing

When I bought my first color printer, I fell in love with it. We certainly got our money’s worth out of it. I kept it forever because it made beautiful prints and it was a real workhorse. It never gave me any trouble; it was simply always there waiting for me to push “print” and it would do its thing.

One thing I loved about it was “draft mode.” It would print lovely images using a lot less ink that would help me save money printing. Our kids used it for school work and I even printed color recital programs in draft mode. While they were lighter in color, no one noticed. We kept it a lot longer than it’s use-by date.

However, times changed and the cost of the ink cartridges went tremendously higher. Since it was old there weren’t too many places to buy them, so they cost a premium. Attempts at using off brand ink or refilling them myself were futile. So I finally gave up on it.

As you can imagine, I have to print a lot of things to make all the games, worksheets, music, and other resources I post here. Here are my top suggestions to cut the cost of student printables.

Printing Costs

• Build a printing fee into your tuition. A printing fee is really a bargain if it saves parents money on materials.
• If you are a member of MTNA, take advantage of the printing discount at Office Depot and Office Max.
• This article is about home printers, but I’ve noticed color laser printers for home use are becoming more affordable. Although the upfront cost is more, I have read that if you print a lot, individual pages can be cheaper, but there are qualifications. Do your research before you make a decision.
• Although printers that are capable of printing 11″x17″ paper are more expensive, if you print this size at a print shop frequently, a printer with that capability might be cheaper in the long run.
• Watch for sales on copying and printing at office supply stores.

Saving Ink

• I buy inexpensive cartridges on Amazon for my current printer. Often the fine print on printers say if you use an off-brand cartridge you will void your warranty, but if your printer is older, it is certainly worth a try. Not all brands have really cheap cartridges and some printers will only work with their proprietary brand of ink.
• Set your printer to a mode that uses less ink. It might be called economy mode, draft mode, fast mode, or something similar. Consider setting it as your default.
• If you do a lot of color printing, an ink jet printer that has separate color cartridges can save you a lot of money. If you have only one color cartridge, if you run out of one color, the entire cartridge has to be replaced. But if you have separate color cartridges, when you run out of red, for example, you only need to buy that color.
• When you see some text on the web you want to print, do you just automatically print the whole page in color? Instead, copy the text only and print in grayscale.
• You can save buying store-brand ink cartridges.

Saving Paper

• If you use a lot of paper, buy in bulk at some discount mart. Office stores and Amazon do not always give you the best price on paper.
• Don’t buy expensive paper for things you know will be thrown away. Twenty-pound paper is fine for every day printing.
• If you see something you want to read on the web, save it instead of printing it.
• If you have an automatic duplex setting on your printer, remember to use it when possible.
• If you don’t have a duplex printer, it’s not that hard to print on both sides. Learn how to do that on your printer. I had to make a diagram and tape it to my printer because I kept forgetting!
• If you have a multi-page PDF, save it and print only the pages you plan to use.
• Don’t throw away or recycle paper unless you have used both sides. I save paper that has only been printed on one side and use it again when I am testing out designs.

Saving Paper and Ink

• If you are worried about printing costs, instead of printing a worksheet page for each student, print only one and either laminate it or put it in a clear plastic sheet protector. The sheet protector has the advantage of being able to be put in a binder with different sections for ease of finding later. Then use dry or wet erase markers. I personally find wet erase markers work better, but they can be messy.
• If you want to use your mobile device for theory sheets, learn how to use a PDF annotator app. Books, a free app built into an iPad is a real easy annotator.
• Buy card stock at a discount store and you might save as much as 50%.

Buying a New Printer

There may come the time when you need a new printer. While you may save money buying a cheap one, it has been my experience that the ink for the cheaper printers costs more. There might be exceptions, so do some research. Here are some things to think about:

1. How much do the cartridges cost? Are they easily available? Can you use off brand cartridges?
2. Are there separate cartridges for color ink? Usually there are three colors and one black.
3. Does it have a built in duplex (double sided) feature?
4. Is it capable of printing card stock?
5. Does it have a “fast,” “economy,” “preview,” “draft,” or similar setting?
6. Do you need a wireless connection?
7. Will you need it to scan and copy? Most teachers find that very helpful.

I hope I’ve given some new ideas on how to save printer money. Just remember when you go into that big box store, the $29.00 printer may cost you hundreds of dollars in printing. Spending a few days researching printers can pay off. And taking the time to change settings, reuse paper, and looking for value can save you hundreds of dollars over time.