The great printer rip off. Cartridge Ink Costs more than vintage champagne

So how do you save money on your printing bills?

Here is a list of ten things you could do to save money on your printing costs. Doing any one of these things will save you money, doing more than one should save you more money.

1. Print Less

This may sound obvious, but it's the easiest way to save on your printing costs. Think about whether you actually need to print what you're about to send to the printer - do you really need that email on paper or can you get everything you need from it by just reading it on your computer screen.

2. Switch to Compatible Inks & Toners

By switching from original/ genuine ink cartridges to premium compatible or remanufactured cartridges can save you up to 80% on the cost of originals.

Compatibles are new cartridge bodies, mini-me's of the original cartridge.
Re-manufactured cartridges, are recycled empty cartridge bodies, that are professionally cleaned, filled and tested, chipped ready to pop into your printer as usual.

Compatible cartridges are not only much cheaper than originals but often contain more ink than originals. Our premium quality compatibles are reliable and have great print quality. Most people are printing letters, order forms, assigments so why spend so much on ink? Quality may only be an issue if you are printing quality photos or high quality print work.

Customers have in the past been put off using compatible cartridges as manufacturers use scare tactics about printer warranties. But these are unfounded.

3. Print on Both Sides of the Paper

Cut the amount of paper you use by printing on both sides of the paper. Most printers have a duplex (double sided printing) facility, but it is easy enough to turn paper over and print on the reverse side.

4. Change Your Font

Which? recently highlighted that Century Gothic and Times New Roman fonts use far less ink or toner than Arial and Sans Serif. In fact, they found that Century Gothic uses around 30% less ink than Arial.

Reducing your font size is another great way to save money; if you normally type in font size 12, reduce it to 11 or 10.

Avoid using the “bold” button. The simple fact is that the bigger or thicker your text looks, the more ink or toner you will need to use to get it on to paper.

5. Print in Draft

Set your default print quality to "Draft" or "Rough" so that you use less ink or toner. You can still change the quality when you need top-notch prints but it means you’re less likely to print web pages and letters in photo quality when you don’t need to.

6. Use Print Preview

Using the Preview function before sending a print job to the printer can show you exactly how many pages will be used to print your job. By doing this you can then select Pages 1 to 2 if that's all you need. This is especially relevant when printing a web page; you always get an extra page telling you the page URL and the time and date you pressed print – a complete waste.

7. Print in Black and White if You Have a Colour Printer

Printing in black and white means you don't use colour ink or toner - and the black one is normally the cheapest to replace. Set your printing defaults to print in black and white and you'll save money.

8. Change Your Printer

Technology is always improving and this definitely applies to the world of printers.

The chances are that if you're using an old printer, you're probably using way more ink that you need to be. Old printer inks dry out if you don't use them, they're more expensive as the demand for them declines and you'll be limited to where you can get them.

Brother, Canon & Epson are usually easier to buy compatible inks and often with separate colours so you can buy individual inks as you need them.

9. Buy Combo Packs

Buying ink in combo or multi packs can really save you money per cartridge. Look out for AmazinkDirect multi ink packs that can save you pounds. Plus you can cut the cost of postage too.