Extending an Ink Cartridgeby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 04 Nov 2007 05:17 PM It is inevitable that your printer's ink cartridge will run out just when you really need it the most. And those ink cartridges can be very expensive, $25 or more! How can you extend your ink cartridges to make the cartridge last longer and help you save money? Here are some tips. The one way that I have found to extend an ink cartridge on the fly is also the easiest. Just turn the printer off and remove the ink cartridge. Shake the ink cartridge vigorously and place it in the printer. Then turn the printer back on. You should be able to get a few more days of printing from your "empty" cartridge. This is an especially nice solution in an emergency, when you need to print right away and you don't have a spare cartridge. My very favorite way to extend an ink cartridge is by using it in a smart way to conserve as much ink as possible, especially when it comes to color, which can get very expensive. Obviously, you should avoid printing when possible. For example, if you are surfing a website and want to print out a recipe, see if you can find a printer-friendly version that removes all of the ads and other content that is on the page. or just copy the information you need and paste it into a text document before printing it. Another good practice is to set your printer preferences to "draft" mode as your default. Printing in a draft quality instead of a "best" or "normal" quality will save you lots of ink. Most print jobs don't need the highest quality printing, and if you really do need a high quality, you can temporarily change it for the specific print job. As a bonus, set your printer to print on both sides of the page and save on paper as well. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Five Ways to Save Water in the Fall Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags frugal, ink cartridge, printing, thrifty Discuss this article
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