11 Tricks to Save Money on Paper and Printing

11 Tricks to Save Money on Paper and Printing11 Tricks to Save Money on Paper and PrintingWhen it comes to paper, dont just recycle- reduce and reuse too- tosave on paper and printing costs. Every time you use the printer you are not just spending money on paper but on toner and ink too. When you savepaper, youllsave on printer cartridges, and you will create a mora eco-friendly home office.The simplest ways to save paper is, of course, to print less stuff. However, it takes some discipline and rethinking to put this into practice. Try these 12 tips and spend less on paper and toner. 01Get to Know Your PrinterThinkstock / Getty ImagesLearn how to use your printer more effectively to savepaper. Before printing, choose print preview to check if one line is going to cause another whole page to print.Dont just blindly hit OK when the print dialogue box pops up. Reduce the print range to just the pages you need. You can also highlight only the text you need and choose print selection. Thi s is particularly useful when printing from websites because you can ?eliminate the ads.If you have difficulty printing, clear your printer queue once youve fixed the problem. That way your printer wont spit out the six attempts you made before you figured out you were out of paper02Use a Tablet or E-ReaderIf you are printing documents because it is easier or more convenient to read them on the go, consider investing in a tablet or e-reader. You can use them to read Word documents and PDFs and even make notes in them in many cases.03Take Notes, Screenshots and Bookmark Web PagesWhen viewing a website, jot down information rather than printing a whole page just for a phone number or address. You can also copy and paste information into a Word document or other organizing software. Or, if it is something you want to keep for future reference, simply bookmark it.04Proofread CarefullyBe sure to check your work before you hit print. If you do find a mistake, hit cancel quickly, so you on ly have one misprinted page. If the whole document prints before you find the error, only reprint the page with the error, if possible.05Send Electronic Invoices to ClientsSending electronic invoices will save money on postage, but dont print out a hard copy for your records, either. File them electronically on your computer and be sure to back up your records. While youre at it, request paperless statements for your bills to make your office as paper-free as possible.06Share Documents Online With Free Online Office ToolsUse these free ansprechbar office tools to send and receive documents via the web. These can be downloaded and filed on your hard drive or left online so you and your clients or coworkers can each make changes without ever using a piece of paper.07Print on Both Sides of the PaperThis may mean setting up for a two-sided print job- sometimes called duplex printing. This can also mean putting a new print job on the reverse of old paper. Fill the paper tray with old mis taken printings. After it is finished printing, flip your document over to the wrong side and mark a line through it, so that in the future you wont waste time reading the wrong side.Whileyou dont want to use this technique for something youd send out to clients, it works well for internal documents. ?08Reuse Old PaperWhenever possible, reuse paper. Not only can you print on the back side, as explained above, but you can use it for many other purposesCut it in half to make scrap paper for lists. Cutting it keeps it from getting mixed up with current documents, but you can also just mark a line through it.Staple it together to form scrap-paper notebooks.Give it to yourkids for drawing or scratch paper for math homework.Shred it to make packing materials.If you use electronic bill pay, save the return envelopes that come in your bills and use them to send in the kids lunch money or to organized small items.09Adjust Your MarginsUse narrower margins, smaller font, and closer line spacin g to get more to a page. Along these same lines, one tip for saving on printer ink cartridges is to use the draft quality setting or grayscale when printing.?10Use Email More Print It Less.Writing effective email is a key skill for a telecommuter, but a ?goodfiling system for emailis almost as important. If filed and backed up on your hard drive or online, emails will very rarely require printing. Set up folders in your email client and have your email automatically sorted. You wont just save paper youll save time too.11Put Your Fax Machine to RestSend and receive documents as PDFs rather than fax. The quality is better, and its easier, particularly if you dont have a second line for the fax. If you do have a second line, you can get rid of that monthly bill.