• About
    • Work With Me
    • Contact Me
    • Privacy Policy
  • New? Start here!
  • How To Budget
    • Ways to Save Money
    • Set Up A Budget
    • Stick To A Budget
    • Budget Printables
  • Easy Meals
    • 15 Minute Meals
    • Easy Lunch Ideas
    • Meal Planning
  • Home Organization
    • Home Management
    • Save Time
    • Home Routines
    • Home Management Binder
  • Make Money
    • Work From Home
    • Side Jobs
    • Money Making Apps
    • Hobbies That Make Money
  • Shop
↑

The Busy Budgeter

A balanced life for busy people!

  • Work with Me
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Shop
  • How to Budget
  • New? Start here!
  • Home Organization
  • Make Money
  • Easy Meals
    • 15 Minute Meals

How We Print For Free: Print for Pennies with the Staples Paper Sale!

By The Busy Budgeter | 13 Comments | This post may contain affiliate links

52 shares
  • Facebook10
  • Twitter
  • Yummly

Get cheap printer paper—a penny a pack—at the Staples Paper Sale the first week of August! Mark your calendars NOW!

As a mom and a blogger, let me tell you we go through a lot of printer ink and paper at our house, but I never worry about the cost because I’ve figured out how to print at home almost for free.

I’m obsessed with workbooks, so this printing hack is a lifesaver!

I can't even believe how easy this solution was and how big of a difference it made in our budget! I don't think I realized how much we actually printed (probably all those coupons) I'm so glad I found this! I can not WAIT for the next Staples Paper Sale so we can continue to print for free!

There are tons of awesome printable blogging resources, budgeting and planning tools out there, but one of the questions I’m frequently asked is, “How on Earth do you afford to print so much?”

It’s no secret—printing’s expensive. If you go to your local printshop, you can pay $.12-.15 a page for black and white printing. For color printing, you’ll pay way more—up to nearly a dollar a page. With a 50-100-page workbook you’re looking at a very expensive project.

Well, at our house we literally print all we want for free (or practically free). I’ll tell you how!

Get the Best Deals on Cheap Printer Paper

We wait until the best deals on printer paper come along. The very best deal I’ve found is the Staples Paper Sale. Usually, for one week at the beginning of August, Staples offers paper for $.01 a ream or 500 sheets for $.01!

The Staples Paper Sale is a door-buster deal for back-to-school, so mark your calendars so you don’t miss out.

I buy enough reams to last us through the whole year (usually 5-10) and then we’re set with paper for the next 12 months.

If you miss this amazing deal, there’s also great opportunities to buy cheap printer paper during black Friday in November. Black Friday offers the second best deal I’ve found on Staples printer paper. Office supply stores (like Staples) offer crazy cheap printer paper deals just to get people to come in and buy more. Black Friday’s another great time to stock up, especially if you miss the chance in August.

Buy a Laser Printer

Laser printers tend to be much more expensive than ink jet printers, and for good reason: their printing capacity lasts for years on just one cartridge.

Fortunately, you can find laser printers for a steal on Craigslist. Typically, used laser printers on Craigslist run well under $50 (sometimes free), and if they’re in good working condition you can continue to print for years.

We get our printers for free on Craigslist (we have three commercial sized laser printers in our house right now). Then I simply buy an off-brand laser cartridge. Laser drums and toner are expensive ($100-200/each) BUT they last for years and years for household use. Plus, you never worry about them drying out like ink cartridges can.

We can usually get all of the ink for our laser printer for about $200 if we buy off-brand from Amazon. (We just search the model number and choose the cheapest with decent reviews.) The “risk” with off-brand ink (and why people pay premium for name brand ink) is that you runs the risk of gunking up your laser printer. Since our printers are free or super cheap, we aren’t worried (and it’s never happened…and we’ve been doing this for years).

That $200 is usually the ONLY expense for us printing as much as we want…and like I said, it lasts us YEARS.

Using a laser printer can save $400 a year or more in printing costs!

Save on Inkjet Printers

If you own an inkjet printer you just can’t let go of, you can still get refills for $10 a pop! In the long run, considering the life of inkjets, it’s not as big a savings as laser. If you use lower ink volume and less-to-print (and already own the printer), then use this trick to save.

The secret to saving on inkjet refills? Take your used inkjets to Costco’s photo department. They’ll refill them for $10!

Regular printer cartridges are usually between $20-$60 apiece and they don’t last very long. In fact, with regular, frequent printing you might blow through a cartridge a month, particularly if you’re using color. Ink is a HUGE budget buster! (But it doesn’t have to be!)

Go to Costco and you can get your inkjets filled for less than half the price. It’s a great deal!

Save with Printables

With full printing access for cheap, you can use your printer to save money! There are all sorts of budget printables to help you get a handle on your finances. I find writing out a budget by hand is easier for beginners than fussing with spreadsheets and formulas.

You can print my free Ultimate Money Saving Workbook: 200 Ways to Reduce Your Spending, Increase Savings and Achieve Your Dreams. This workbook is a great reference guide to walk you through creative hacks and ways to save money on all sorts of household items.

You can also take advantage of low prices on workbooks versus courses. A course may run $100, but there are workbooks that can teach you the same information interactively for a fraction of the price because you have to print it yourself. The 90 Day Budget Boot Camp Workbook, which will walk you through how to transform your finances when you live paycheck to paycheck (in 90 days!), is a perfect example of this. You can get more information on that here.

If you’re working on getting in shape, download the Baby Step Fitness Program Tracker. This will give you the tools you need to get on track with your health and fitness. Plus, you’ll discover ways to work out from home and see progress without spending on a costly gym membership or fitness tracking program.

You can also use your printer to get organized. Print cute labels from home for files, boxes and more.

If you’re a planner addict like me, but can’t afford to fork out $50 for a fancy day planner, you can use free printables to DIY a planner for under $5! The benefit of a DIY planner is the customization. You can pick and choose the features you want and forget the extra stuff you don’t need. Plus, you can make your planner cute to reflect your personality and style.

Free printables can really help you save on SO much stuff, so owning a printer is a worthwhile investment. If you use the Staples Paper Sale to score cheap printer paper and my method for getting an affordable printer you can print for next-to-nothing!

So, what are you waiting for? Be sure you don’t miss the Staples Paper Sale to get your cheap printer paper! Remember—the Staples Paper Sale is the first week of August! Mark your calendar now!

What methods do you use to print on the cheap? Do you know any awesome printer hacks?

More You'll Love:

  • The Best Budget-Friendly Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your Holiday Gift List!The Best Budget-Friendly Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your Holiday Gift List! With the holiday season right around the corner, I must say that I love getting in the […]
  • 8 Ways to Build Your Debt Snowball and Pay Off Debt Fast8 Ways to Build Your Debt Snowball and Pay Off Debt Fast Debt sometimes feels like being trapped in an avalanche. You look for footholds and […]
  • Budgeting for a Baby: Money-Saving Tips for New MomsBudgeting for a Baby: Money-Saving Tips for New Moms Five years ago, we welcomed our baby boy! Becoming a mom was wonderful, amazing and […]
  • Sticking to a Budget When Your Motivation is Zapped: 6 Steps to SuccessSticking to a Budget When Your Motivation is Zapped: 6 Steps to Success So, you're really trying to commit to your budget. GO YOU! But despite your hard work, […]
FTC Disclosure of Material Connection: In order for us to maintain this website, some of the links in the post above may be affiliate links. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and/or believe will add value to readers

Filed Under: Budget, Save Money Tagged With: budget, Save Money

Comments

  1. Dave @ Run The Money says

    July 19 at 6:53 am

    Love this! When my wife and I were real estate agents, we purchased so much in paper and ink from Staples that we had the highest discount card (black maybe?) that they offered! I know how important this sale is … haha 🙂

    Reply
    • The Busy Budgeter says

      July 25 at 2:10 pm

      Oh wow, no kidding!

      Reply
  2. Ms. Weird Hacks says

    July 19 at 8:27 am

    I just downloaded the baby steps tracker to keep up with my waist training program☺. Getting a printer is on my list as I do all my printing in my friends house. I will probably take a look through Craigslist, even though I have a phobia of buying stuffs on there.

    Reply
  3. Lisa says

    July 19 at 9:36 am

    I love this time of year when there are back to school sales!

    So I wasn’t surprised to see a post on printer paper. It’s one of the best deals we try to take advantage of. Paper in our house lasts a long time, so it’s not uncommon for it to last until the next back to school season.

    Reply
  4. Krystal @ Simple Finance Mom says

    July 19 at 11:08 am

    One penny?!?!?!? As a former teacher, I always took advantage of things like notebooks and pencils. But I had no idea their reams of printer paper went on sale as well. Thanks for sharing!!
    Krystal @ Simple Finance Mom recently posted…Baby Step 1 – Setting Up Our Beginner Emergency FundMy Profile

    Reply
  5. Cambria • The Wisely Accountant says

    July 19 at 2:07 pm

    This is a really great resource! I have always shied away from printing at home because the cost of ink is SO EXPENSIVE! We have a printer but barely use it because of this exact reason. I have tons of printables that I am dying to print out, but between the cost of ink and the cost of getting it printed at a copy shop; I’ve gone without and our poor printer has been gathering dust.
    I’m so excited to get back into printing stuff at home!! Thanks for bringing this back into my life 🙂
    – Crazy Printing Lady

    Reply
  6. Sandie at Fulfilled For Less says

    July 20 at 6:24 pm

    I can’t wait for this sale!!! That’s all.

    Thanks Rosemarie 🙂
    Sandie at Fulfilled For Less recently posted…Why We’re Selling Our Home Two Years After We Bought ItMy Profile

    Reply
  7. allen border says

    July 25 at 5:34 am

    This is a truly awesome asset! I have dependable shied far from printing at home in light of the fact that ink is expensive. We have a printer however scarcely utilize it due to this correct reason. I have huge amounts of printables that I am biting the dust to print out, yet between the cost of ink and the cost of getting it printed at a duplicate shop; I’ve done without and our poor printer has been gathering dust.

    Reply
  8. Costa del Sol says

    July 26 at 12:51 am

    Fascinating. I was wondering about Pinterest… bit of an eye-opener this!! I really enjoy design so I will give it more thought now.:)

    Reply
  9. Lisa says

    August 5 at 11:05 pm

    We can print up to 80 pages per week free at our local library from the Internet computers. That’s usually plenty for my needs. After that, the copy machines take a flash drive – there’s a donation box if you choose. I print very little from home.

    Reply
  10. mikal shone says

    October 18 at 7:24 am

    well i had to deal with much printing ork every second day that why i always prefer laser printer over inkject printer as it is a way more smart

    Reply
  11. brother printer support says

    September 5 at 6:06 am

    I am a professional photographer .i was planning to buy an affordable printer .i don’t have a heavy use of printer which one should I prefer an inkjet or a laser printer ??

    Reply
  12. dell printer support says

    September 26 at 8:59 am

    This is really impressive I use the printer a lot in my office that’s why I was looking for some affordable printing option and this cheap printer paper really sounds exciting. happy with this

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Recent Posts

Free Hourly Printable Schedule Templates (Editable)

Free Hourly Printable Schedule Templates (Editable)

January 17th, 2023

100+ Lunch Ideas For Field Trips (+No Cooler Options)

100+ Lunch Ideas For Field Trips (+No Cooler Options)

January 5th, 2023

Cheap and Easy Costume Ideas for Adults and Kids.

Cheap and Easy Costume Ideas for Adults and Kids.

October 13th, 2022

Easy Monday Night Dinners - Proven Brainless Dinner Ideas.

Easy Monday Night Dinners - Proven Brainless Dinner Ideas.

October 10th, 2022

Sandals Resorts Costs for Ocho Rios: Full Breakdown of Costs and What I Wish I Knew.

Sandals Resorts Costs for Ocho Rios: Full Breakdown of Costs and What I Wish I Knew.

October 3rd, 2022

Busy Budgeter Inc. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Ready to save a TON of money?

Get step by step budget help with the FREE 90 day budget bootcamp!

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

  • How To Budget
    • Ways to Save Money
    • Set Up A Budget
    • Stick To A Budget
    • Budget Printables
  • Easy Meals
    • 15 Minute Meals
    • Easy Lunch Ideas
    • Meal Planning
  • Home Organization
    • Home Management
    • Save Time
    • Home Routines
    • Home Management Binder
  • Make Money
    • Work From Home
    • Side Jobs
    • Money Making Apps
    • Hobbies That Make Money
Copyright ©2023, The Busy Budgeter. All Rights Reserved. Contact Rosemarie@busybudgeter.com. Privacy Policy
Design by Pixel Me Designs