Four simple ways to reduce your printing costs

While paper usage in the office has certainly reduced in recent years, the paperless office is still not quite a reality.

If you've got a printer or two installed in your office or at home, the costs can add up over time. However, with a few simple changes you can drive your printing costs down while still churning out page after page of photocopied bums.

Get to know your printer's settings

Have you ever delved into your printer settings? There are a plethora of tools available to help you on your cost-saving joruney, especially with modern-day printers.

While the exact options will vary depending on your printer, there are basic ones that can be found on all modern models like printing in draft mode (cuts down on the ink used and sometimes makes things look faded), printing in only black and white and printing double-sided, effectively halving the amount of paper you use.

Buy only genuine ink and in bulk

While it can be tempting to forego the genuine ink replacements and instead go for the unbranded (and often cheaper) options, this is generally not a good idea – especially in the long run.

With the genuine replacements, you know they're the only ones guaranteed to work perfectly with the model you've got.

Buying in bulk can also save you money, as there are often promotions and special offers to go with them.

Choose the right paper

This one is simple. Think about who you're printing for – if it's just for office use or the recipient will be happy with lower-quality paper, then don't splash out on the premium paper and stick to the budget variety.

Upgrade your printer

Just like new cars becoming more efficient with their fuel usage, new printers are becoming more efficient with their productivity, power usage and ink consumption.

If you've got several older printers knocking around the office or home, why not consolidate your printing operation into one wireless, network capable printer? If the printer is connected to your network, you can use it from anywhere you have an Internet connection.

There's also a huge number of innovations that modern printers feature to enable you to actually print less, like the new range from Fuji Xerox.