Even with all of the push to go paperless some of us still need the services of a printer, and those who do know the agonizing pain of buying expensive refill ink cartridges. Ounce for ounce, ink costs more than champagne. But you can stop bingeing on ink and use these easy strategies to make your inkjet investment last almost twice as long.
Change up the font.
Smaller, thinner letters equals less ink. Every time you print a big document, switch up your font to a thinner typeface to use less ink overall. Switching your font size to something one pixel smaller will also have a big effect on your ink use and a small effect on your doc.
For extra credit on saving ink with fonts, install the Ecofont typeface. This completely free font is designed with tiny holes in each letter and symbol—invisible at 30-point size and smaller—saving you ink a few drops at a time to make the whole cartridge last longer. Get it here.
Print only what you need.
If you're serious about making your ink last a while, take some time to mess with the print settings in your software and web browsers. If you don't need page numbers or the URL in the footer of every page you print from the web, turn that functionality off.
If you only need to print a small section of a web page, highlight only the text you want before you hit "print"; you should end up with a printout that's just what you need. Or use a service like Print What You Like or GreenPrint, which both allow you to customize content when printing from the web.
Switch up the colors.
Black ink runs out first, it's just a fact. So the next time you're printing something that doesn't need a professional polish—like concert tickets or a recipe—change the color of the text in your document to blue or magenta. That way, you save all the black ink for important stuff.
(Images: Shutterstock, Ecofont)
10 No-Fail Decor Tricks & Tips for Small Spaces
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Cook Rice on the Stove
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Here's rule Zero -- simply don't print stuff.
Incisively re-consider what MUST be printed, and eliminate most of it.
A few years ago I spent 3 years without a printer at home, although my husband had one. This was before we had wireless printers. If I absolutely HAD to have a print copy, I'd e-mail a .pdf to my husband to print out for me. This was so inconvenient that I didn't do it very often. I was amazed and the tiny number of prints I generated in that time.
Here's an example -- stop printing out financial records. Archive them on your hard disk and back them up regularly. Don't print bank statements, bills, brokerage statements, etc. If you ever need them, you have two digital copies.
I don't print anything except postage labels for our business. But those are a huge ink suck. I honestly know no one who prints anymore. But that font is pretty cute :)
For things that need to be printed in black, change the font color to dark or even medium grey. That helps, too.
I think where you say "pixel" you mean "point"
My printer has been on a closet shelf for 5 years, haha. I rarely have a need to print anything at all ... and when I do, I will print it here at work or ask a friend to do it. I've eliminated probably 99% of my printing so probably won't be buying another printer, ever :)
Also, keep your printer turned off. On the 'off' setting, the cartridges are tucked to the side within the mechanism, which is to prevent the ink from drying out. When left 'on' cartridges will dry out faster.
i just got a new printer today!
Laser printer. Economical. Lasts forever on one toner cartridge. Clearance models can be found for cheap.
I'm with jmorey. Undergrad was a toner cartridge, law school was another.
I don't print as much these days, and I'm glad I don't have to fear the ink running dry next time I need it.
This tips work great, until your printer decides that it won't work unless you replace the color cartridge, even though it's not out. We almost never print color but our printer has decided that the color cartridge is too old, so we have to replace it, even just to print black and white.
I'm studying to be a stage manager, and freelance a bit even though I'm still in school, so I have to print a loooooot of paperwork, and don't have an office to do so with. The only problem with these tips are ink cartridges on inkjet printers will expire eventually if you do not use it enough, so you'll feel like you've gotten nothing from the $20+ you spent. Side note: Probably going to ask for a laser printer for my graduation gift. They're wonderful!
You can buy pass the no colour ink thing. I have a Canon printer and have never replaced the colour cartridges. You just have to hold down RESET until the printer starts making noises again.
I print knitting patterns sometimes, shipping labels, coupons. Sometimes I have to print off stuff to send to student loans. Still, I don't print often.