Save On Printing
When it comes to paper, don’t just recycle–reduce and reuse too–to save 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 save paper, you’ll save on printer cartridges too. And you will create a more 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 6 tips and spend less on paper and toner.
Know Your Printer
1Learn how to use your printer more effectively to save paper. Before printing, choose “print preview” to check if one line is going to cause another whole page to print. Don’t 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.”
Use a Tablet
2If 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.
Take Note, Screenshots
3When 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 and place in a file on your desktop.
Careful Proofing
4Be sure to check your work before you hit print. If you do find a mistake, hit cancel quickly, so you only have one misprinted page. If the whole document prints before you find the error, only reprint the page with the error, if possible.
Digital Invoicing
5This will save money on postage too. Don’t print out a hard copy for your records either. File them electronically on your computer (but be sure to back up your records!). While you’re at it, request paperless statements for your bills to make your office as paper-free as possible.
Doc Sharing
6Use these free online 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.
