In today's world of e-mail, Internet and text messaging, my computer printer doesn't see much action. For example, rather than print out information I need, I bookmark the url of the Web page or copy and paste the text into a Word file. I save money on paper and printer ink this way.
If you're a frequent printer, though, you know that the cost of ink cartridges adds up quickly. To help you save money, the July issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance offers these tips on how to skimp on printer ink:
Print in draft mode. Nearly every printer has the option to print in draft, economy or save mode, which uses less ink (the print will be lighter).
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Stick to black and white. Switch to grayscale only if you don't need to see documents in color. To eliminate ink-draining Web color graphics, download Printee for IE, an application that lets Windows users remove images before printing a page in Internet Explorer.
Think before you print. Train yourself to read on-screen. To save online articles to your PC, use a free application, such as PDFCreator to convert Web pages to Adobe Acrobat files.
Pay Less to Print in the July issue of Kiplinger's also has tips on how to figure the cost of printing per page before buying a printer or printer catridges.