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My friend Lynette Chandler gave me a piece of advice a few months back, and now I’d like to pass that advice on to you! 
Lynette recently posted on her site, TechBasedMarketing.com, her tips for saving money on printing by using a laser printer instead of a traditional ink jet printer that most families and work at home parents have in their homes.
When she first mentioned it in the private forum for Mom Masterminds, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. In my experience, laser printers were expensive, the toner was expensive and they were best suited for multi-user, corporate environments. Could a laser printer really make sense for home use and for a very small home business?
But then she broke it down and showed that while the upfront cost for the toner cartridges and the printer itself might be a little higher, there are significant savings over ink jet costs as a result.
I checked out some laser printers online and was surprised that there were several highly-rated laser printers on the market for less than $200. Even that $200 threshold was a bit high for my budget, especially since I was used to the world of cheap inkjet printers. Even when I was able to find inexpensive ink jet ink online, I was still spending much more on ink than I would ever spend on a printer. It seemed worth a deeper look.
I stalled….and stalled….and in the meantime probably spent close to $200 in ink for my multi-function ink printer. Had I just made that decision earlier, I would have saved some money. But, finally about a month ago, I took the plunge and bought a wireless laser printer for my home and home office and I couldn’t be happier! I purchased a wireless printer so that I could plug it in anywhere in our home and print from any computer on our wireless home network! Guess where it’s plugged in? Behind the sofa in our family room! Why not put it where I tend to be most of the day, right?
Cost-wise, it breaks down like this: I purchased the Brother HL-2170W wireless laser printer at Staples for $109.99. Because I hoped that this would be a printer I would use a great deal and for a long time, I also purchased the 2-year service plan for $29.99 and the Brother TN360 toner cartridge for $67.99. Total cost: $222.01
The printer comes with a “starter” toner cartridge that I have been using for more than a month and it still has toner in it. I’ve printed over 500 pages already since getting the printer, and according to Brother, the starter cartridge will print an estimated 800 pages or so. A standard cartridge will print about 3000 pages. I opted for the TN360 “high-yield” toner cartridge so I could get a little more bang for my buck.
Considering that I was spending about $40 or more a month on ink for my multifunction inkjet printer, this is a tremendous savings! $40 a month equals about $480 a year in printing costs. Compared to my costs for the next 12 months (I doubt I will purchase anything else until next year at the rate I print normally) of $222.01 (and that includes the costs of the printer itself!) you can see how much money this saves.
Consider a laser printer for your home and home office! And thanks to Lynette for the great money-saving tip!
Resource Links:
Brother HL-2170W printer from Amazon.com: $109.99
Brother TN360 toner cartridge from Amazon.com: $46.99 (even better deal than I got!)
Wireless Laser Printers from Amazon.com
6 responses so far ↓
1 Lynette Chandler // Jun 4, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for the plug Jen. Wow, $109.99 for that laser printer? You got a sweet deal girlfriend.
2 Melanie // Aug 24, 2009 at 10:00 am
Not sure if you spend money on shipping from Amazon or not, but you can get the same printer at http://www.newegg.com (big techie website for buying stuff) and get free shipping for $120, sale ends 8/29.
3 Jen - Head AutomaticMom in Charge
Twitter: JenKnox
// Aug 24, 2009 at 10:50 am
Thanks for the tip Melanie! Actually, Amazon usually has free shipping on many items, and this is one of them. I just checked again, and Amazon has that printer for $119.99 and free shipping so basically the same deal.
But thanks for the heads up on another great site to check out printers!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jen – Head AutomaticMom in Charge´s last blog ..Welcome new visitors from AFC!
4 Lexi Rodrigo // Oct 20, 2009 at 6:47 am
Hi Jen,
Thank you very much for this. Lynette’s advice is spot on. The ink for my CA$20 inkjet printer was costing me CA$50 every couple of months. I could have bought a laser printer with all that money months ago!
A quick question: you don’t need laser paper to use in a laser printer, right?
Thanks,
Lexi
Lexi Rodrigo´s last blog ..Day 19: Tracking Your Freelancing Income and Expenses
5 Jen Knox
Twitter: JenKnox
// Oct 20, 2009 at 7:06 am
Hi Lexi,
I know…I went for months still purchasing inkjet ink and when I looked back at my receipts I was horrified at how much I had spent in comparison to a new laser printer!
As for the paper…in all honesty, I use the cheapest copier paper I can find at the store. I recently purchased a case of it (10 reams of 500 sheets each) for about $20 or so when it was on sale. It works just fine and since much of my printing is rather “throwaway” (online coupons, a quick print of an email to read on the run, etc) it doesn’t pay to use nicer paper.
Hope it all works out for you! It was, by far, the best financial decision I made for my business and home this year. I never worry about running out of ink and I get so much mileage out of the toner that I feel really free to print whatever, whenever.
As a side note, I mentioned that I print lots of online coupons to use in stores. I can honestly say that I think this printer has allowed me to also save more money in my regular shopping because I print many more coupons with less concern about cost. As a result, I find that I always seem to have a good coupon for something in my coupon folder when shopping and MOST of them are printed from online sources. Before the laser printer, I was much more careful about printing only specific coupons that I knew I would really use because I was concerned about wasting ink.
So the savings have extended past even my immediate savings on ink!
Good luck and let me know which one you chose and how it’s working for you!
Jen Knox´s last blog ..Outsourcing tips from the pros
6 admin
Twitter: JenKnox
// Dec 27, 2009 at 8:24 am
I just wanted to take a moment to post this comment that was left for the toner cartridge, TN360 mentioned in my review. I was doing some price comparisons on a new TN360 toner cartridge for my Brother wireless laser printer and came across a very helpful customer comment on the Amazon.com website.
His comment was about how to extend the life of this particular toner cartridge so that all of the toner inside the cartridge is used before the printer requires the cartridge to be replaced. His tip was:
“The Toner Life LED flips on, requiring you to replace the cartridge, even when there’s still toner left in the cartridge. The machine detects end of life by shining a light through from one side to the other.
To circumvent the detection mechanism, remove the cartridge and put a piece of masking tape over the clear opening/circle on the right side of the toner cartridge, and then pop the cartridge back in. Eventually, you’ll start seeing streaks, and then you’ll know that the cartridge is truly empty. ”
You can see the entire comment on the Amazon.com website by clicking here: http://www.automaticmoms.com/laser-cartridge-refill-tip
By the way, if you are in the market for the high-yield Brother TN360 laser printer cartridge, Amazon is selling them now for $46.99 which is about 18% less than the list price.
http://www.automaticmoms.com/brother-tn360-high-yield-cartridge
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