We don’t think about the real cost of printing these days until we go to buy more  ink cartridges .  Many of you  may not  know  this, but printer ink is more expensive than Dom Perignon champagne and Gold – weight for weight!. But we don’t waste champagne or  dump our Gold jewellery in the  trash  do we?

If you were using  liquid gold  for printing you would probably be sparing with it. Don’t  think any differently  with ink. The  tips below will save you money on your printing costs. They may not all apply to you , but if you could implement just one idea, it would save you money.

1. Print in Draft mode whenever possible. Draft mode  requires  less ink and is generally quicker to print. The  drawback is that on some printers the print can appear  dull  . So if its just the shopping list you are printing then use draft mode. If it’s a  life and death document  , then possibly give this one a miss. But  it is worth wasting a sheet of pape to try your printers draft mode, you may be surprised how good the print quality  can be .
2.  Check out Firstinkjets.co.uk for  your ink cartridges  . Yes it’s a obvious plug, but we can save you a packet on cartridges especially epson ink cartridges, Canon and HP ink cartridges . 
3. If your printer has a Duplex printing facility,  then try  it. Duplex  lets you  print on both sides of the paper, thus cutting your paper costs in half. People think they cannot print on both sides of a sheet of paper. But when did you last read a book that only had print on one side of the page.
4. Your printer may  show  a warning  stating  your cartridge is empty or needs replacing. Many people then replace the cartridge with a nice new one (great for us as a cartridge reseller, but not always necessary). Often you can simply press ”ok” and carry on printing . Our tests have found that on  some  printers you could squeeze up to another 40% more useage from a cartridge simply by clicking OK.  But , try not to be to greedy and let the cartridge run completely dry, as this can damage the print head.
5.  Option 5  is similar to option 3, but still worth  a mention  . Re-use paper that has only been printed on one side or half of a page,  for example  you may have printed out a address or a short recipe. Once you have visited the address or baked your cake,  do not  just throw the paper away. Re-use it , it may not sound like much, but you  may  be surprised how much you could save over a  month .
6.  When  you replace your old printer with a brand new shiny one, consider the  printing costs. There are  plenty of  reviews on the internet that will give you a breakdown of what each printer costs to print a  page of text or a  graphic based document . It is definately worth spending an hour doing a little research before parting with your  money .
7. This may sound  rediculous , but Ink evaporates, so having your printer  placed  in a nice sunny location could be costing you money. Also do not open cartridges until you are ready to use them.
8. Make sure you check on prices, the best prices can generally be found on the internet and of course from ourselves at www.firstinkjets.co.uk, but don’t take our word for it. Also, if somebody seems cheap on the internet, just make sure that  shipping is included .
9. Every time you switch your printer on and off it  uses  a head clean facility . This uses ink and can be avoided by leaving the printer on if you are probably going to use it again that day.
10. Finally, make sure your printer is set to the correct settings for the type of work or paper you are using. For example if you are penning a letter and your settings are set for photographs , you will be using more ink than you need to.