Monday, March 2, 2009

Printing is expensive!!!

Here is a great suggestion for saving printer ink. I have an HP laser printer, but this would apply if you are using ANY printer brand or whether it's inkjet or laser.

First, anytime I print something that comes out of the printer wrong or that well-known last page that just has a page# and url at the bottom with nothing else worth keeping - I save it. It goes in a bin next to the printer. I load that paper in the printer
upside-down for random things I want to print because the backside doesn't really matter. Saving me $ on paper and lots of trees. Love that!

I also keep a three things near my desk.
  1. Trash can
  2. Shredder
  3. Carton/box top or the cardboard box that is underneath a case of water you bought.

The first 2 are self-explanatory. The box top is for your paper trash. You know when you get a bill and it has envelopes and inserts stuffed in there with the statement? How about old magazines? And flyers from the mailbox that you have no interest in. Anything paper that you can recycle goes in it. I have one by my kitchen desk and my husband has one by his desk too. We empty them when they're full - into a bin in the garage - and that gets taken to our local recycling center!


Now about those ink cartridges...


Ask yourself each time you print... Does this really need to be in color?

Most of the time, it doesn't. So why are you wasting your color inks when they are so expensive? Especially for laser printers - there is one black cartridge and three color ones!

Here's what I do. I will explain with my printer in the example, but most printers give you options before you print.



After you click the printer icon and the window opens, follow these instructions...







There you have it! Save your $ and be conscious of what you choose to do. I hope that you start making this a habit. We can stop wasting resources and consuming more than we need to... and save our $ for our own pockets and not someone else's!

Toodles,
Joanne