Upscale Your Printer

Lexmark recently launched a new line of printers where you pay a higher price for the actual device, and then you save when it comes to buying replacement ink. But that's assuming you'll be printing in black and white most of the time. You can pick up a new Lexmark Platinum Pro905 or Prestige Pro805 multifunction printer starting at $220 (I found the for $219).

These two printers come with free high-yield ink cartridges that promise about 510 pages for black ink, and three included color cartridges (yellow, cyan, and magenta) will give you about 200 pages. After the initial ink runs out you you can get black ink cartridges for just $4.99, while the three separate color cartridges will cost you $10 each.

If you print 1650 pages only in black ink, the total cost, including the Pro805 printer, will be $234. That's actually cheaper than you're likely to pay for an inkjet printer and all the replacement cartridges you need to print the same amount of pages.

Other Cost-cutting Options