How to save more money home photo printing

Liberate yourself from pricey print shops with a home photo studio, but don’t fall into the trap of substituting one cost for another, follow our steps to save money while still printing your own snaps.

Step 1: Fill up without shelling out
Printer manufacturers make a loss on their equipment, but make up profits by hawking pricey print cartridges to you. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Check out PriceRunner’s Ink and Toner section, and you’ll see it can filter the products on offer to only show re-fillable cartridges. Pick one to suit your printer, and you’ll soon be topping it up with ink, rather than emptying your wallet for a whole new cartridge.

If you’re uncomfortable with re-fills, or just want to side-step the hassle of ink replacement, use a compatible cartridge, rather than one by the printer’s original manufacturer. You won’t be able to top it up, but it’ll still be cheaper.

Step 2: Save trees, save money!
After shelling out for a printer and ink, top quality paper is usually the next largest expense to those printing photos at home. But check out PriceRunner’s filtering and you’ll find alternatives to big-name brands that are just as good. This search will show you glossy photo paper ordered in ascending price, making it simple to save money.

Of course, you’ll still pay a premium for glossy photo paper, but it needn’t be as large as printer manufacturers would have you believe.

For everyday paper, you should choose recycled products, as they’re cheaper, greener and perform just as well. Also use PriceRunner’s filtering to find the best deal. This EP4 paper is completely eco-friendly, and much cheaper than the big name recycled alternative from Canon.

Step 3: Buy a second printer
This might seem strange, but buying a separate printer to handle text and black and white documents is a sound investment. Choose a laser printer, and you’ll get much more value for money from its toner cartridges than using your pricey photo printer’s ink on greyscale images.

Laser printers aren’t as expensive as they used to be, and when it comes to churning out plain and simple text, they’re ultra-quick too. There are plenty available for less than £50, and they’ll pay for themselves in the long-run.

Must-have accessories
Pictbridge compatible camera – To really save money when printing photos at home, do away with the PC altogether. Most printers now support Pictbridge printing, so you can hook up a compatible digital camera direct to the printer’s USB socket to commit your pictures to paper.

Get chatting about printers over at the PriceRunner forum.

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