How to reduce printing cost at home?

[Sunite]

How to reduce printing cost at home?

It is very hard to find a computer user without owning a printer. Because the printers are very affordable. However the maintenance of a printer is very expensive. You need to by ink cartridges, toners, papers etc. The price of ink cartridges, toners and papers are very expensive. Therefore it is the printing that is expensive not a printer.

Here are some tips to reduce the printing cost.
Always use 'Print Preview' before printing

Most of the applications provide the 'Print Preview' feature which shows how it will look like in print. It will also show details such as how many pages it will take to print, how much margin will be left etc. If you think the preview is not how you want the printout to be then use the page setup to make the required changes and preview it again until you see the way you want.

Avoid colour printing if possible

If you have a color printer then take color print outs only when necessary and if not just use the black and white printing.

Print in low resolution

The higher the resolution you select for printing the more the toner ink will be used to print. If you are price conscious then select low resolution unless it is required.

Do not print the background

If you don't print the background of the document such as a background color, image or water mark, then you can save a lot of ink. If you are printing a webpage using internet explorer, select Tools->Internet Options, select the 'Advanced' tab and in the 'Printing' section remove the check box in the 'Pain background colors and images' option.

Just select the area you want to print

If you do not want the whole document and need only a few paragraph or a few pages then just select those paragraphs or pages and print them. To print selected paragraphs, select the paragraphs and then select File->Print and in the 'Print what' section tick the 'Selection' radio button.

Print on both sides of the Paper

If you print each page on a separate paper it look nice but it will use more paper. So you can choose to print on both sides of the paper to save paper.

Use the 'Draft' option

If you are just printing the draft version for proof reading then use the 'draft' feature in the printer properties to print a draft quality to save ink. When you print your original copy then remember to remove the 'draft' setting.

Refill cartridges

The printer manufacturers make more money in selling cartridges than in selling printers. If the ink / toner cartridges are empty then instead of buying a new cartridge you can opt to buy a refillable ink cartridge. You can save upto 50-70%.

Update the printer driver

Go to the printer manufacturer's website and see if there is any update for your printer driver. If there is then download and install it.

Use Photocopies.

If you need multiple copies of a single document then print one copy in the printer and then make photocopies of the document then printing as many copies using your printer.