You can get great deals on printers these days, but have you ever gone to buy your ink cartridges…and they cost you more than the printer did!? That’s because most printer manufacturers make their money on the ink cartridges. Which? the product testing website recently revealed many printers waste large amounts of ink during their cleaning process, which starts automatically every time you switch your printer on. They also revealed that your printer can use 600% more ink printing 50 pages over 8 weeks than it would printing them in one go. According to the report it costs £2.50 to print 50 pages in one go, compared to £17.48 printing the same amount of pages over 8 weeks on a HP Officejet Pro 8500 printer. Wow that’s a lot of wasted ink, here’s 5 tips that could reduce the amount you spend on ink: 5 great ways to save money on your ink cartridges.

  1. Switch to compatible ink cartridges – More and more of our customers are switching over to compatibles…why? Well for starters you can save up to 76% against the genuine cartridges. You also get a 2 year warranty on all CartridgeMonkey compatibles, but here’s the most important point buying a compatible cartridge does not void the warranty on your printer. A lot of printer manufacturers lead you to believe that buying compatible cartridges voids your warranty which is definately not the case.
  1. Changing your font – Strange I know… but changing your font can actually save you ink and money. A university in the states proved that switching your font from Arial to Calibri actually saved you 30% in ink!
  1. Do you need to print in colour? – if you have a colour printer did you know when you’re just printing black you’re actually using all the other colour cartridges as well? If you’re only printing in black maybe its time to switch to a mono printer (black only).
  1. Don’t leave your printer unused for too long – Which? Calculated that it would cost you 600% more by printing 50 pages over an 8 week period than all at once, so try and save your printjobs for when you need them and print them all at once.
  1. Dont always buy the cheapest printer – Always make sure you price up your ink cartridges before you buy a printer. You might think you’re getting a great deal buying a printer for £30 but it could become costly when you’re paying double for the ink.

So there you have it 5 tips to help you reduce the amount you spend on ink cartridges. If you have your own tips don’t be selfish and share them in the comments below.