Bye Bye Inkjet, Hello Savings

It is a well known fact when you buy a printer, you don’t truly pay for its cost up front. You will pay for it later when you buy the ink cartridges. This week, a friend and entrepreneur expressed how their printer only cost $20 and it would be cheaper for them to simply buy another printer than pay the ink cartridge prices. I have so been there.

That’s why, I no longer use our inkjet. The only inkjet printer we have is a multi-function we purchased a few years ago and I don’t even use it for printing – only as a fax machine and scanner. For everyday printing, we have one color laser and one black and white printer.

Don’t laser printers cost a bomb?

That’s the myth. If you go for black and white – which is more than sufficient for everyday use at a home office, do you really need a document in color to read it?, you can get a decent laser printer for under $200 even a wireless one. Sometimes, you can catch sales for under $100. Color laser printers though definitely do cost a lot more but it is not as much as it used to.

But what about toner? They are high!

What is expensive is relative. Yes, I did order a cartridge for my color laser printer this week, and yes, it did cost me $34 for one color – black. BUT, guess when was the last time I ordered toner? August 2007! It is true. I had no idea until I looked at my Amazon account and past orders. WOW. Trust me, that color laser gets a lot of prints for a home office because my husband is kinda print happy. At the end of the day, the cost per page is really low compared to inkjets. Plus, love the fact I don’t have to be running out of ink and having to run to the store regularly.

If you feel your printer is literally sucking you dry – go laser.