Cutting Costs: How To Save On Paper

Who Makes The Paper?: While you may have to buy cartridges sold by the printer manufacturer, that doesn't apply to paper. Why? Well, do you think that Epson makes paper? Of course not -- they buy the paper from another company, and put their name on it. Chances are that the exact same paper is also being sold under another name. If your printer uses a special ink, there might be advantages to using a manufacturer's brand of paper. However, another brand will not hurt your printer. And it could be a lot cheaper.

Different Paper For Different Purposes: The kind of paper you use can affect how your document looks. As a result, when you're printing important documents, you should probably use inkjet- or laser-specific paper. That doesn't mean it's the only paper you can use. For everyday use, feel free to purchase inexpensive, low-weight paper (usually labeled "All-Purpose"). But don't use paper that is so thin that it will tear. Look for your printer specs in your manual or online for the minimum paper weight that the printer can handle

Re-Use Paper: Documents don't always come out exactly as we'd like. But don't throw away those sheets of paper -- instead, use the blank side for documents that you are just printing out for yourself, or for drafts of documents so that you can check for any errors. If you're afraid that having both sides printed will be confusing, then simply use a pencil or dark pen to draw a line through the side that is already printed on. You'll find that, by reusing paper, you'll be spending a lot less on new paper.

Do A Test Print Of Photos: Paper -- especially photo paper -- is expensive. You don't want to waste any of that high-gloss, high-cost photo stock. Do a test print before you do a final run with photo paper. You'll see if the size of the photo is right, if the image was cropped correctly, if it's printing out in portrait or landscape mode -- all those little things that we think we have correctly until we see that we actually don't. Once you're sure that everything is perfect, then you can do the final printing.

Consider Using A Photo Service: If you don't need to have your photos available five minutes after you take them, you might want to consider having them printed by a photo shop instead. Because they deal in bulk, photo shops can often charge a lot less per photo than you would actually be paying if you printed it yourself (especially when you factor in the cost of the ink and of the paper). And you can get professional-quality prints without worrying about whether you should buy expensive photo inks.