Lets talk about………..printer ink!
Lately it seems as if I have had many of you email me with questions regarding ink, and paper conservation. Your main question?
Where do you get your ink? And how much do you spend?
One other hot question is:
How do you conserve paper….but yet still print coupons?
I figured today would be a great day to chat about it 
I use about 1 cartridge a month – my printer is rather new (a wireless) and the new cartridge is $14.99 at Office Max or Staples. I used to just buy new at Staples when I ran out, but now I find myself taking them to Office Max – not only are refills $10, they give me $3 Office Max perks rewards for recycling the cartridge. So all in all about $7 or so.
I will say…….I try *not* to print everything I see. My feeling is that there is always a paper coupon that I can use instead. However….there are cases (such as Clorox) that I NEED to print. So I do! I reuse my paper…..stuff it back in, and if my daughter colors a picture I ‘ll re-use that too (sad to say………….cashiers get crayon on the back of my coupons). The excess that I cut off goes in the recycle.
I am actually started refilling my own cartridges…that is, when I “pre-plan” and have them ordered……I found a place online that sells ink for $9.45 for my cartridge with free shipping. It’s enough to refill it for 4-5 times.
With that being said – how do YOU cut down your ink cost? Have you ever refilled them yourself? Was it easy?
Yes, refilling yourself is easy! As long as you have a cartridge that is refillable (be careful especially with Lexmark!), it is worth it. I buy the Inktec system on Amazon. Also, don’t let the cartridge completely dry out or it won’t work. Instructions are easy.
We refill our laser print which is what I use to print all coupons. I must say the ink lasts forever! I often cannot remember the last time I had to refill it. I think goes around 6-8 mos and I print a lot! And yes same as you mentioned the refill ink can be poured in several times. Love a laser printer!
i go to cartridge world cant remember how much it is i will look for my receipt. I look in the paper retreiver bins at schools the teachers put old class work remember the back is blank and i have enough to save for my sister in a small town, also look at your mail the back side is blank so cool. thankyou sheryl for all that you do. I have pictures for the pay it forward were is the link. i have all sorts of chairites that are callling on couponers love it. to be able to make a difference in other peoples lives and still eat yourself so much fun.
I print on used paper also, if the coupon is a single or double, I flip paper and print a single on the other end, I also don’t trim the coupons that much, just cut and use, what I do trim is put in recycle bin or I like to use the larger pieces for notes or lists. I have also put together those long scraps in pile and staple to make note books. I also buy the paper by the case at Office Max when they do a big Perks return of 50% or more.
Ink is hard, it is really spendy, I have done the refill, but usually wait for a sale, coupon or high Perks or a combo of some kind and then recycle the old ones for Perks. I also print in black ink only, I take the color cartridge out, black is cheaper. I will also buy at Costco when they have a coupon and use my Costco AmEx for extra cash back. And with that in mind, I also have been buying fuel at Costco with AmEx for the cash back or buy a Costco cash card for cash back and use that for fuel. In AK today, $4.11-$4.13 everywhere, $4.03 at Costco.
abcink.com
I’ve always ordered from them, and my last order was during a promotion where I got a years supply of cartridges for under $2 a cartridge.
I get “XL” cartridges from 123inkjets.com, they last about 3 months for me usually, although I burned through a black in two month recently. I buy a lot when there are deals (like the one you posted a while back! 15% off + 23% rebate + free shipping) and it breaks down to about $40 a year after rebate.
Then, for paper, I shop the deals and stock up on it when it’s free after rebate, etc. I bought that box a few months back when it was only $1, and I’ve barely touched the first ream. Maybe I don’t print as much as other people, but I feel like I print a ton.
Also, I seriously bought the CHEAPEST printer in the world. It was less than $20 and it works great 5 years later. We have a fancy wireless, 3-in-1 too for more important things, but I use the old cheapie for coupons.
which rebate website do you use to get 23% cash back?
thanks
qian
Shop at Home, during one of their bonus days. It’s normally 20%, but it will have “special” days where it’s 32% (not 23, I typed dyslexic I guess lol). I got the 32% back on my pre-discount price too.
I tried to refill hp60, i went to the place on 99th and mcdowell, my printer does not reconize that is was refilled, so i had to buy new ink cartridge and get a refund for the refill, which sucks
I have 61 which is supposed to be terrible to refill, so yours might be the same. My store wouldn’t even attempt to refill it because they said they knew it wouldn’t work. :-\
Oh no, i was thinking about trying to refill my own (hp 61) but now that i know its a pain…will have to stick to using cpn overage :) Thx for the info
I do the self refill. I purchase the refill kit at walgreens for $10.00, it lasts me about 6 months. I print a lot of coupons and don’t mind the $20.00 a year cost. For paper I only buy it at staples when they have it on easy rebates. Over the last couple of weeks they have had it on rebate with a $1 coupon to make it free. I got 16 reams, hopefully that will last a few months until it goes back on sale.
I use coupon overage to get my ink on the freap :) Ink for my printer (hp) is around $13 @ target/walmart. With overage i can get it for just below $10 & lasts about 2 months.
I learned my lesson the hard way, HP printer’s tend to be very expensive ink wise (even when you refill your own ink). In one year, the ink cartridges cost me 2x a much as the printer had cost me. Brother and Canon’s have much better prices on ink. I swear by Canon. I get generic ink from Abacus Ink (order online, they are here in the valley) and each cartridge (Canon breaks out by each color) is about $2, and the big black one is about $3. Each black one lasts me about 3 months… and I don’t have to fumble (I am the type who will get ink everywhere, and my cat will pick that time to run across the table) with ink refills. I love it!…Paper, I get at Staples super cheap or free with the Easy Rebates….
Janice: I use canon 210xl black. is it the same kind you have? I need to check out the Abacus ink you mentioned. thank you!
qian
I refill my own ink and re-use the backs of paper, so I really don’t have any paper costs which is great. I have seriously debated taping two smaller sheets of paper to get more out of it, but I have not done that. Been using the strays for lists. :) As well as old bill envelopes for my transactions (deals).
Oh My Friends…….BUY A LASER JET PRINTER. It is the best investment I have ever made! I can print 1600 pages on a 23.00 cartridge. It is black and white only. I bought it on ebay for 96 with free shipping and the toner cartridge included. It is an HP Laserjet P 1106w. It is so fast and the quality is great. I have had no problems. It is also wirless so I can print from my upstairs computers and well as my down stairs computer. I am telling you it is the best investment I have made. I print for my friends now because I feel bad for how much their ink costs. I also print lots of Fresh and Easy’s and give them out all the time. I feel like I am “paying it forward” all the time! I love my LASER JET!!!
I get my ink cartridges off Ebay. They’re not reconditioned and I pay less than $4 for blk, cyan, yellow and red. Off course shipping is a few bucks but for less than $10, I get all of them. Of course I use more black but still a good deal.
I also watch the freebies for an Office depot deal. I acquired a $30 gift card, which I haven’t used yet, so it may go towards blk ink!
I have Brother all in one, and I buy compatible ink cartridges from amazon with swagbucks, so I haven’t paid anything for a very long time. 10 packs (4 blk & 2 each of colors) around $8! I have never had a problem with them and they last just same as brand name ones.
I buy ink refills on ebay for around $5 shipped and they have always worked well.
I don’t know if all printers will work this way (especially laser jet), but my Canon ink jet printer (MP150) will accept short pieces of paper. If I print a sheet of paper with a single coupon, I clip it out and use the resulting piece of paper for one or two more coupons. My printer will accept a piece of paper only a few inches long (about the size needed for a single coupon) so I have very little waste.
If you are looking to use less ink, and you use Windows, go into control panel and click on “printers”, then right click on your printer that shows up. You can change your settings so the printer will only print in black & white (check the grayscale option) so that you don’t use up color ink. While you’re on the printing preferences page, click “manual” on the color-intensity setting, and then click “set”. Then move the “intensity” slider over to about negative 15. This will make the printer use less ink when it prints (things won’t be so saturated, but the coupons will still scan just fine)….they will be a very dark shade of gray, which looks fine.
Also, click “preview before printing”. Then, every time you print something, the preview screen will come up and you can review what’s going to print before it actually does. This will give you a chance to cancel printing if you don’t like the coupon after all (maybe the expiration is too short for your taste, or it’s a store Q and not a manuf. Q). You can also see where the coupon’s going to print on the page (helpful since a single Target coupon will print in the middle of a full-sized page, so you can’t use a short piece of paper on that coupon).
After you’ve made these changes, click apply, then OK. Your printer will have these defaults every time it prints, unless you change a print job manually. Beware that the newest version of Internet Explorer (Version 9) will not allow you to see the preview screen before the coupon prints on some coupon sites. My laptop still has the older version of IE, so I’m not going to update it. I know that you can use the current version of Google Chrome browser and you can still see the print preview screen before the coupon prints.
Oh my goodness, from what you are saying, the coupon can have other stuff on the back. If that is true? Thank you, thank you for sharing that. I recycle my paper, but didn’t realize that. How excited I am!
I use the Fax confirmation pages we use to throw away at work. I now keep then. Its only a little section on the top so the other side and the 3/4 of the front is blank. I never pay for paper and no more waste for the landfill
I refill my ink at Costco. I have an HP printer, & my cartridge is not compatible with the “fill @ home” ink refill kits. It costs about $10 for a refill, & they can refill it up to 6 times. Saves at least 50%, because the cheapest I’ve gotten a new cartridge is $20.
**Re-filled HP ink cartridges will not read as full when re-inserted into the printer. :( It’s like a manufacturer “defect”….I bet they did it on purpose. The cartridge can still be used & will work fine, but the printer will tell you that the ink is low. Which means that you will only discover that you are low on ink, when your pages start lookin’ funny.
@Cynthia- Good idea…never thought to use work’s paper waste for coupons! it’s genius!
That sounds very similar to what I went through with my HP. Keep your eyes open for a Canon or Brother printer on sale. I bought mine when I saw one for the price of 3 black print cartridges…