If you've been a frequent reader of my blog for a while, you know that I give away a lot of free printables, and I also offer some of my bigger printable sets for sale. I've been using printables myself for a while, so I thought I'd share a few of the best printing tips I've learned over the years.
Printing Tips
- If you're printing in black and white, it's almost always cheaper to print at home. When I download freebie cheat sheets or printables that don't necessarily have to be in color, I almost always print them at home. I get my paper almost for free (see below), so printing at home is easier and less expensive for me.
- If you're printing a page with a lot of color, consider printing at an office supply or printing store. If I'm printing a page that's REALLY heavy in colored ink, I almost always send it to Office Depot/Office Max for printing. My printer at home is not the greatest, and the colors almost always look better if I upload my PDF to the OfficeDepot website and pick up my printing job later. The last I checked, it costs about $0.59 to print one page in color…
- BUT, if your page only has a little bit of color, print at home. For my Daily Planning Sheets, I print my daily pages at home. There's a pop of color on each page, but not enough to totally drain my printer's ink supply. It's definitely cheaper to print these kinds of pages at home.
- For extra durability, print your covers on cardstock. I did this for my Daily Planning Sheets cover just to give it a little more strength. Plus, the cardstock paper quality makes the whole planner look nicer.
- If you'll be using a workbook or planner a lot, consider getting it spiral bound. I like to take my workbooks to the office supply store. There you can get them spiral bound for $3-4. They also have plastic covers that will make your workbooks more durable.
How to Save on Printing Supplies
- Paper – I have a rewards card at Office Depot/Office Max, and I pay close attention to their rewards offers. Often, I can get paper for as little as 1 cent! I do have to pay up front for the cost of the paper, but then I get the rest of the money back in the form of rewards. So, if I spent $9.99 on a box of paper, I'd get back $9.98 in rewards. I usually end up using my rewards to pay for things for the blog, but I've also used my rewards money to pay for things like stocking stuffers, cleaning supplies, and school supplies for my kids! Other office supply companies usually have similar programs – I just use the Office Depot/Office Max Rewards program because that's the only office supply store in my area.
- Ink – I have an old ink jet printer, and I get my ink cartridges refilled at Costco. It costs about 1/3 of what I'd pay for brand new ink cartridges, and I haven't had any quality issues with the ink so far.
- Printing/Binding Services – If you're going to have something printed at an office supply place, keep an eye out for coupons. Sometimes I'll wait until I have a coupon to do a big printing job. If you're uploading your printing job from home and you don't have a coupon, call the store and see if they have any offers going on at the moment – they might give you a coupon code over the phone.
I hope these ideas will help you to make the best of your printables!
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