Get the Most “Mileage” Out of Your Ink

With fuel topping $3.00 per gallon in most areas now, I am very concerned about the fuel mileage of my aging car. I try to keep it tuned up, I avoid swift acceleration, I even wash it more often. What I really need to do is make sure I am getting the most out of my printer ink. Based on an average priced inkjet cartridge, ink is actually $13,627.48 a gallon! Also, the smarter we print, the greener we are. In addition, we may end up saving trees.

Here are some easy ways we can all save on our printing costs:

Printing off the internet uses a vast amount of ink, but it doesn’t have to. With a little preparation, you can print only the information that you need. Before you print, instead of clicking on the printer icon in the toolbar, make it a habit to go to File-Print Preview. This will show you everything that will print. Print set up will also give you the option to print background graphics or not, un-checking this box will save you ink as well. Finally, if you highlight only what you wish to print, and right click, you can save to clipboard and then paste in word or notepad, again allowing you to print only what you need.

You can also change your printer settings to print in draft mode for most of your documents. If you choose File-Print-Properties you will have the option of choosing most of your printer settings from this menu. I use this setting for most of my printing.

Don’t turn off your printer every night. Every time you turn on your printer, it goes through a charging cycle that uses ink. This adds up over time.

Finally, be careful about the cleaning cycle. Reserve it for those times when your print quality has deteriorated. It is not necessary to run your cleaning cycle on a regular basis.

If you follow the above tips, you should get the greatest mileage out of your printer ink.
If you have certain tips to save money on in, please join this blog. We need everyone’s input.