Last week during my weekly podcast, I answered a question from one of my readers on how to maximize the use of paper when printing coupons.
Many of us have been through it when we print coupons online. Sometimes the coupon we request will be printed solo and at the top of the page, leaving the bottom half blank, other times the coupon may be at the bottom with the top half blank, but sometimes the coupon will have a recipe or advertisement at the bottom taking up the rest of the sheet of paper and using unnecessary ink.
I found it very hard to just clip a coupon and have all that blank space wasted. I mean sure, my daughter can draw on it, or I can use it to jot down notes and such, but I print a lot of coupons and really want to reserve my paper for that purpose!
What I do to really stop the paper waste win printing coupons is have my settings to where it ALWAYS shows me a print preview before it prints. I have found this to be extremely helpful!
Now when I go to print a coupon, a window pops up on my computer showing me the exact preview of what is about to be printed. I can then accept it or cancel it. If it shows a single coupon with just blank space all at the bottom, then I know that I can use half a sheet of paper that I may have previously cut a single coupon from! But if it shows me a Coupon at the top with an advertisment at the bottom, I know that I can let it print a couple of seconds and then hit Cancel printing once I feel the coupon part is completely done printing! This saves my ink!
Get to know your Printer
Each printer can load paper differently so get a feel of how yours loads, and which side of the paper loaded that it actually prints on that way if you are using a sheet that has something already printed on it, you want have a "Print Over" issue.
Once you get the hang of how your printer works, and when it is safe to cancel printing when the advertisements or recipes have started, I am certain you will be saving your paper too!
Though computers are different, you should be able to change your printer settings doing something similar to this:
Go to your Control Panel, then select the Printers Icon. Next right click on the printer you want to change the settings to then select Printing Preferences. On the General Tab, Make sure the box for "Display Preview before printing" is checked. Then click Apply at the bottom and then OK.
Now when you are printing you can see what is going to come out before hand, and be ready to insert the right size paper to just fit your needs!
Another tip on printing is to set your print settings to print in only black ink. Many people are not aware of this, but internet coupons do not have to be color to be accepted! Black ink is less expensive and lasts longer when printing text documents.
To change the setting to Print in black only do this:
Go to your Control Panel, then select the Printers Icon. Next right click on the printer you want to change the settings to then select Printing Preferences. On the Advanced Tab, simply check the print "Black and White only" button. Then click Apply, and then click Ok. (Do the same thing but click "Color" if you ever need to print in color later.)
Some of you may already be using this method, and some of you may be doing something better than this! But I do hope I have managed to make this easy enough to make sense. If you have any questions I will try to help you the best I can!
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