Couponing, homeschooling and working from home all use up a lot of printer paper and printer ink. At one point when I was putting together my own curriculum I was going through a cartridge every week or every other week. OUCH! So I started to look at ways to save money on print ink. Here are the ways I have found. Please let me know if I missed any!

Cheap Ink Cartridges – How to Save Money on Printer Ink

Buy in bulk.

One great way to save on printer ink is to buy in bulk. You can buy ink in bulk from places like eBay, Costco, Amazon, or any other online or retail store that is similar. Buying ink in packs of multiples can help you save more money per unit.

Get the ink refilled.

If you take your ink cartridge to a place like Walgreens, you can actually get it refilled extremely cheap. This typically works for ink that isn’t super expensive, which means it works for those who have really basic printers. You don’t want to risk ruining your printer if you have an extremely nice one.

Refill the ink yourself.

It really isn't that hard to refill the ink yourself. I did it for years before I got my new printer. Yu use a needle and inject the ink to the cartridge. Each set will have instructions so make sure you get the refillable ink for your printer ink cartridges.

Use less ink.

It is amazing how much money ink can add up to. One of the best ways to save on printer ink is to use less of it. You can use less by thinking twice about what you need to print before you print it. A basic way to save on printer ink, but it does make sense. Another way to use less ink is to go to the library when you need to print something. In the long run, it may be less to print something at the library, especially if you don’t have the money to fork over for a new ink cartridge right now.

Also, when printing make sure you have your settings right. Make sure your print quality is set to normal or draft and not best. Make sure to print in black and white or grayscale and not color unless you absolutely need it.

Ink cartridge trade in.

Many stores like Staples and Office Depot offer an incentive for trading in your used ink cartridges. They take them and refill them or just recycle them. Staples recycle program offers you a $2 credit for every cartridge you recycle with them, Office Depot's recycling program offers the same incentive.

When buying a printer check how many pages per cartridge you get.

In all the small print in the signs in store and on the page online for each printer, you will find this info. It often looks like this:

HP 950 Black Officejet Ink Cartridge (~1000 pages); HP 951 Cyan Officejet Ink Cartridge; HP 951 Magenta Officejet Ink Cartridge; HP 951 Yellow Officejet Ink Cartridge: composite yield (~700 pages); HP 950XL Black Officejet Ink Cartridge (~2300 pages); HP 951XL Cyan Officejet Ink Cartridge; HP 951XL Magenta Officejet Ink Cartridge; HP 951XL Yellow Officejet Ink Cartridge: composite yield

So basically for this printer the basic black cartridge will give you 1000 pages and the XL one will give you 2300 pages.

Keep printing.

Sometimes your printer will tell you that you’re almost out of ink. It’s lying to you. Keep on printing until you can visibly see that there’s no ink left to print. Think of it as a warning sign and less as a “run out and buy ink right now” sign.

Take care of your printer.

A simple way to save money on printer ink is to take care of your printer. Don’t neglect it when it needs maintenance. Also, make sure you’re using the right kind of printer cartridge inside of your printer. This will help your printer to last longer and your ink cartridges to work better.

Use Amazon Gift Cards to get free printer ink.

I have shared how I earn $200+ a month is free Amazon gift cards, one fo the things I buy with them is my printer ink!

Think about it, ink is expensive, using these tips, you can save on printer ink. Really, with a little thought, your money can go further, and your ink can last even longer when you use these tips. Do you have any tips to add?