Is there any clever way to be cost-effective when printing (I seem to have more paper than ever and ....

The best way to save money using inkjet or bubblejet printers is to refill your cartridges yourself. OK the manufacturers of the printers say not to use inferior refill inks but they are just trying to keep you buying their overpriced cartridges. Refilling a Lexmark Black cartridge could cost you $6 when buying a new one costs $60.

Follow the instuctions which comes with the refill kit and if supplied use the plastic glove supplied. I refill my own with the office printer and I usually get five or six refills out of a cartridge which saves me a total of around $250 to $300.

Another way is to buy generic cartridges off Ebay. My Canon Pixma 4000 costs me just on $100 for a full set (5) black and colour cartridges. On Ebay I purchase Generic kits at $88.00 for 10 packets of 5. That includes freight too. Saving me a whopping $900.

There has been no deterioration in my prints and the printer works as it did when I purchased it.

BMW

Ink jet printer prices have dropped dramatically, but the price of ink can be overwhelming. Printing in draft mode can save quite a bit of ink and money. Click on Start, then Settings, then Printer. Click on the name of your ink jet printer. Then choose Properties from the menu at the top of the page. Look for the tab that indicates the quality of the print, usually labeled Document/Quality. Choose the lowest quality available. This is often called Draft Mode or Quick Print. Although the print quality will be diminished, it is usually adequate for most everyday paperwork. If you want, you can also set the printer to print only in black to save on the more expensive color ink. You might want to consider making the draft mode and back ink only your default settings. Whenever you are preparing documents that need a more impressive look, you could specify the high quality print settings.

I suggest to use the excellent Fineprint software, that print 2 or more pages in one...