If you use the internet much, you likely use your printer A LOT! When you find recipes, e-books, articles, lapbooks, prayer journals, etc they all get printed off. Homeschooing mom's print even MORE! We print everything from detailed photos of art work, the nervous system, math sheets, and SO much more!

Lots of home printing costs us $$$. We need to remember that we not only have the out of pocket cost of paper and ink, but there is wear and tear on our printer AND all that paper! I'd like to say paper doesn't grow on trees...but....

To save $ on paper AND reduce your rubbish, save every sheet that is mis printed and re-use the reverese (and clean) side for printing something else. If you are printing a looooong article, instructions, e-book, pattern, etc be sure to print on both sides of the paper. A 10 page booklet will only cost you 5 pages when printed on both sides of the paper! As soon as you have printed an item, be sure to use it as intended, store in a binder, place in a folder, or a file so it will not get lost. That 10 page booklet, which you spent time to print double sided, will cost the MORE than if you had originally printed fronts only if you need to reprint the document for some reason. Why? There is the cost of 5 extra sheets of paper AND the cost of ink to reprint the entire document! If that occurs regularly in your home, it WILL add to your cash loss AND your rubbish pile!

For small items, consider keeping a notebook nearby and j otting information down by hand. This reduces cost of ink, paper, and already puts the information in a transportable AND contained location.

Have you tried to print double sided only to have th document continue to print before you can re-load the paper? GRRRRR! Here's a solution. Firstly, anything you are printing off the internet should be copied and pasted into a Word document. Many printer programs have an option to print only the even or odd pages of a print job. Select the item and click your print button. In the print window you will find several options; how many pages to print, how many copies, whether or not to collate, etc. There should also be a drop down option that will say something such as Print:, with a drop down box that reads all pages in range. If you click on the arrow to the right of the box, the menu that drops down should include the phrases "odd pages only" and "even pages only". Select one and print the document. Then retrieve those pages out of the tray, replace them (in the appropriate order for how your printer prints) and reprint the document selecting "even pages only."

Want to see the trickle down method of this method of printing? We have already determined that it saves money on paper and ink AS WELL AS reducing your trash output. But there is more potential savings. If you store your items in notebooks, binders (with page protectors), files, or folders, you will need only half the space to store your printed documents. That can mean spending less on folders, files, notebooks, and binders!  But it doesn't stop there! Needing less space to store those same articles, also means Less is More in the home organization world! Add to that the fact that you not only have spent less $ to contain your print outs, but you have cut your consumerism. Cutting your consumerism also means that you have eliminated the trash of the wrapper/box/container that those files, folders, notebooks, binders, page protectors would have come in...thus REDUCING YOUR TRASH OUTPUT!

I point all this out, to demonstrate that even the smallest changes can make a HUGE difference in the grand scheme of things. Imagine for a moment if every person who reads this article made this one change in his/her home. Now extend that thought process to how much paper usage is decreased. How much ink, files, folders, notebooks, binders, page protectors, trash is reduced for each person. That's  a LOT of savings. Add to that the savings of $ in each person's wallet. WOW! Now, imagine if each person who reads this article and implements this minor change in their printing also recommends to one friend to do the same. And they tell one friend, and they tell one friend...well you remember the old Breck shampoo commercial...it adds up quickly!

Keep your money in your pocket and your trash output down, in one simple habitual adjustment. It's that simple.

These are my thoughts.

Leslie Valeska

~Contributing Writer~

Want to read more? Come, partake in the Journey to Simplicity  where you will find lots of information regarding frugality, simplicity, homeschooling, organization, faith, homemaking, art, and so much MORE! Leslie is a wife and homeschooling mother of four in SW Fl. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of homemaking. Leslie is also a seamstress for Vintage Vixen, one of the oldest online vintage clothing shops. When time permits she enjoys reading, writing, scrapbooking, painting, and watching old movies. She and her family also spend much time RVing. You simply must come on over to the Journey to Simplicity and see what she is talking about today!