Are Printable Coupons Really Worth The Cost?

Guess how much all that cost? Less then you would expect

I have found myself wondering if the coupons are worth the cost of printing them, but I always conclude that they are. After all, how much can it cost to print out three coupons per sheet of paper, even in colored ink? Less than the $3 those coupons will save me! But as I constantly saw the ink dwindle down and the price of printer ink at staples skyrocket, I thought perhaps printable coupons are not such a good value after all.

But being a frugal diva like myself, I was not going to give up more savings because of overpriced ink and paper. So I came up with some helpful and proven tips to lower the cost of printer ink and paper and increase your savings! YAY!

There’s no point in paying more than you have to. Here are some ways to keep the cost of printing coupons down:

*Minimize the ink volume. The easiest and fastest way to minimize the amount of ink you use is to change your printer settings so that the default print setting is for the lowest ink volume. You might have to look for it, but once I changed this setting I found that it made a world of difference!

Consider printing in black and white only. Color ink is more expensive than black ink, so you’ll save money if you print in “grayscale,” as it will appear in your printer options. I have never had a problem with cashiers thinking those coupons were fake.

Stop the printer after your coupon has printed. Many manufacturers set their coupons to print an ad on the bottom of the page underneath the coupon. I always make sure not to print out more then I have to J

Buy Ink Online: It is amazing how overpriced ink is, I shop through Ebates , is a store list directory that gets deals, coupon codes, or cash back incentives from stores, both online and walk-in-to type retailers. You name it they probably have a deal for it, for my ink and always get a good percentage of my purchase back! Plus you get 5.00 to sign up. I find ink for about 5.99.

Look for sales on printer paper. This can be done. When there is a deal make sure you snatch it up! Like my awesome staples deal I got, more about that later.

Reuse printer paper. I’m all for recycling, and an easy way to recycle is to use the blank side of paper that’s already been printed on. I only do this when there’s very little printing on the one side. However, when the coupons don’t take up an entire page, I take the blank part that’s left and use it to write my shopping list, to do lists, and other notes.

When possible, print coupons at the store. I always do this with Target coupons, which can be printed at the registry kiosks in the store. (To print coupons at the kiosk, choose the option for Target.com, scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and click on “Grocery Coupons.”)

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Now I know you all are wondering about the photo of loot from staples! I remembered one of my rules about waiting for a deal and I found one! Back to School time is the perfect time to stock up on paper, staples had 500 sheets of multi-purpose paper for .01, which is the right price for me. One thing many people do not know about staples is that they take competors coupons, so if you plan it out correctly you could be in for pretty good savings.

So paired with deals and printed coupon from Office Max in hand last week I bought all of this ( 1000 sheets of paper, 2 ink cartiages, 2 packs of bic pens, 2 packs of highlighters, 1 pack of gen pens, packing tape, and mini storage box for 25.00 ( after coupon and rebates! )

So in the end printable coupons are not a money drainer but a money maker, you just have to work for it. I hope that you were able to learn something you did not know. For more frugal tips and tricks and alot of deals come and visit Budget Savvy Diva!