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Save Money Printing in Draft Mode and Using Other Settings

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Even though lately we are all trying not to print as much as we used to, we still have to print sometimes.

But how can we print and still save money when Ink Cartridges are so expensive?

There are several things that you can do that will let you print and still save money. Here are just a few of them:

1. Set the Print Quality to Draft Mode

All printers have a setting called Draft under Print Quality. Most people don’t even pay attention to that feature; start using it.

Before you send your document or e-mail to your printer, make sure you select Draft under Print Quality settings. Don’t hit the printer icon or you won’t get to see this option. Actually go to menu File and then Print to be able to see that. Screenshot 1.

You can also set it directly in the Printer's Preferences so that you won’t have to do it over and over every time you are going to print something.

Screenshot 1
See all 3 photos
Screenshot 1

2. Use the Fast/Economical Printing Setting

This setting is almost the same as the previous one for draft printing; but this setting will also give you the ability to print color images in gray scale and chose how many pages you want per sheet.

Color cartridges are a lot more expensive than black ones and this will save you money if don’t actually need the colors. Screenshot 2.

Please note that above the Print in Grayscale option you can also change the number of pages you want to print per sheet, Pages Per Sheet. This is a great feature that many people ignore. Screenshot 3.

Click thumbnail to view full-size
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 2

3. Change the Font

Researches have shown that font Century Gothic size 10 is a lot more economical than Arial size 11.

Before you send your documents or e-mails to your printer, try to use Century Gothic size 10.

Here is how: Select all your text and change the font, then go and change the size to 10, as Century Gothic is a little bigger than Calibri or Arial. See how it looks and send to your printers, don’t forget to set the quality to Draft.

HP Deskjet 3050 All-in-One Printer (CH376A#B1H)
Amazon Price: $50.00
List Price: $79.99
HP LaserJet Pro P1102w Printer (CE657A#BGJ)
Amazon Price: Too low to display
List Price: $203.80
Hewlett Packard 3050A Wireless All-in-One Color Photo Printer
Amazon Price: Too low to display
List Price: $99.00

4. Shake the Cartridge

New printers have the ability to “see” the ink level of the cartridge. If the cartridge is empty the printer will stop working, giving you that irritating message on your screen.

An easy way to work around that is to remove the cartridge, shake it a little and put it back in the printer. You can do that several times until it is actually completely empty.

This works for ink cartridges and also toners for laser printing.

5. Use Recycled Paper

The recycling industry is becoming more and more efficient with using state of the art technology to recycle things, recycled paper is as good as new paper when we are talking about savings.

Try to use recycled paper as much as you possible can and if you need to buy new paper, look for Acid-free paper, every help for the environment is welcome.

6. Don’t Print at All

It has been months since I used my printer last time. Try not to print at all!

Here is how you can do it also, read my HubPage HubNugget Award Winner Article: GO GREEN! Print Everything as PDF Files Using Free Software

Still Not a Member of HubPages? It's FREE!!!

That's It

I hope this helps you save money when you need to print.

Thanks for reading and best wishes to all…

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Comments

top-bannana 14 months ago

excellent advice, thanks for that, I will be using some of these tips very soon. great hub.

magnalearning

Huntter Karu 14 months ago

Thank you top-bannana! I am glad you like it :)

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