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So many people complain about buying ink cartridges. They cost so much and print so little. But there are a few tips which can save you money without resorting to buying generic ink cartridges which reduce the life of your printer and also make prints less impressive.
Most of the problems with high consumable costs arise from your initial printer purchase. Some of the key questions are

1. How many pages will I print per month?
2. Do I print in colour?
3. How much can I afford to pay for a printer?
4. Do I print images?
5. Do I use a fax, photocopier etc?

From the answers to these questions you can find the best printer for your needs and reduce your spend on ink cartridges. The most important consideration should be given to how many pages you will print on a monthly basis. As a rough guide if you print more than 200 pages per month of monochrome text you should consider a laser printer. Over the past couple of years the prices of laser printers have fallen dramatically. Generally speaking, a lower end laser printer can be had for under $180. Now some of you may be saying but I can buy an inkjet printer for $80. Well yes you can, but it will not save you money on ink cartridges if you are printing 200 pages per month. The cost per page of these cheap and nasty inkjet printers is about 8.5 cents per page. The laser printer is about 3.5 cents. Doesn't sound like much but going back to our original example of 200 pages per month you save $10 on ink cartridges each month. So in under a year you will have paid the difference between the two printers off and be saving on your ink cartridges.
Now I know some of you will be saying you print colour. Colour laser printers have also come down in price and are still a viable option. If you only print small amounts of colour you could crunch the numbers of buying a cheap colour printer for when you do print in colour and the majority of monochrome printing you do use a laser printer.
At this point can I make the suggestion that if you are printing photos you take them along to a department store to have them printed for you. Again the cost of a higher end photo printer and matching ink cartridges, not to mention the photo paper will end up costing you double what you would pay in the department store. Of course this holds true unless you are printing more than 500 digital prints each month.
The last point I will make is if you're small office / home office has several different types of printers such as a fax machine, printer and photo copier you should consider a laser multifunction machine. Not only will you have more desk space you will save money on ink cartridges. If you are still using a carbon paper fax machine it is costing you a fortune! Unless you are only printing 5 or so faxes a month I would recommend trading your old equipment in.
So as you can see there are plenty of options to save money on ink cartridges instead of buying generic ink cartridges. Do some quick math and work out how much your old printer is costing you in ink cartridges per page. Simply divide the amount you paid by the number of pages the cartridge can print to give you cost per page. Don't forget if you have multiple ink cartridges you need to include the cost of these too. Shop around and see what some of the new printers can do. Then work out the cost per page of these printers. The difference is what you can save every time your printer comes on. This small saving per page in ink cartridges can make a big difference over the life of your printer.

About the Author
Sean Norris has run an online website specializing in helping people find the right ink cartridges for their printers. During this time as part of the service often users find their old printer is more expensive to keep and are better to buy a new printer due to the lower cost of ownership

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<b>How to save some money on ink cartridges</b><br> by Sean Norris<br> <br> So many people complain about buying ink cartridges. They cost so much and print so little. But there are a few tips which can save you money without resorting to buying generic ink cartridges which reduce the life of your printer and also make prints less impressive. <br> Most of the problems with high consumable costs arise from your initial printer purchase. Some of the key questions are<br> <br> 1. How many pages will I print per month?<br> 2. Do I print in colour?<br> 3. How much can I afford to pay for a printer?<br> 4. Do I print images?<br> 5. Do I use a fax, photocopier etc?<br> <br> From the answers to these questions you can find the best printer for your needs and reduce your spend on ink cartridges. The most important consideration should be given to how many pages you will print on a monthly basis. As a rough guide if you print more than 200 pages per month of monochrome text you should consider a laser printer. Over the past couple of years the prices of laser printers have fallen dramatically. Generally speaking, a lower end laser printer can be had for under $180. Now some of you may be saying but I can buy an inkjet printer for $80. Well yes you can, but it will not save you money on ink cartridges if you are printing 200 pages per month. The cost per page of these cheap and nasty inkjet printers is about 8.5 cents per page. The laser printer is about 3.5 cents. Doesn't sound like much but going back to our original example of 200 pages per month you save $10 on ink cartridges each month. So in under a year you will have paid the difference between the two printers off and be saving on your ink cartridges.<br> Now I know some of you will be saying you print colour. Colour laser printers have also come down in price and are still a viable option. If you only print small amounts of colour you could crunch the numbers of buying a cheap colour printer for when you do print in colour and the majority of monochrome printing you do use a laser printer.<br> At this point can I make the suggestion that if you are printing photos you take them along to a department store to have them printed for you. Again the cost of a higher end photo printer and matching ink cartridges, not to mention the photo paper will end up costing you double what you would pay in the department store. Of course this holds true unless you are printing more than 500 digital prints each month.<br> The last point I will make is if you're small office / home office has several different types of printers such as a fax machine, printer and photo copier you should consider a laser multifunction machine. Not only will you have more desk space you will save money on ink cartridges. If you are still using a carbon paper fax machine it is costing you a fortune! Unless you are only printing 5 or so faxes a month I would recommend trading your old equipment in.<br> So as you can see there are plenty of options to save money on ink cartridges instead of buying generic ink cartridges. Do some quick math and work out how much your old printer is costing you in ink cartridges per page. Simply divide the amount you paid by the number of pages the cartridge can print to give you cost per page. Don't forget if you have multiple ink cartridges you need to include the cost of these too. Shop around and see what some of the new printers can do. Then work out the cost per page of these printers. The difference is what you can save every time your printer comes on. This small saving per page in ink cartridges can make a big difference over the life of your printer.<br> <br> <b>About the Author</b><br> Sean Norris has run an online website specializing in helping people find the right ink cartridges for their printers. During this time as part of the service often users find their old printer is more expensive to keep and are better to buy a new printer due to the lower cost of ownership<br><br><font size="1" face="arial">Get <A HREF="http://www.freearticlehq.com/">Free Articles</a> for your web site, newsletter, or ezine at the <A HREF="http://www.freearticlehq.com/">Free Article Headquarters</A></font>.