Sure, when you’re at the office you think nothing of printing out 50-page forwards or swiping entire cases of staples and pens, but if you work at home it’s time to get conservative.

Guest posting on the blog Poorer Than You, Tom describes ways to slash home office costs.

A couple of his best tips involve saving on ink and paper costs:

3. Consider Best Before Dates

While in some cases, it is advisable to buy in bulk to receive discounts, this isn’t always the case with printer cartridges – especially replacements and refills. These items only have a limited lifespan (many cartridges can only be refilled 3-4 times before they begin to lose effectiveness) and exposure to air over time can cause them to dry out. Therefore, consider your usage before stocking up and try to keep cartridges in their sealed packages until you are ready to use them.

4. Reuse Paper

It often isn’t until we begin working from a home office where we are responsible for office supply costs that we realize the significant expense of buying paper. When an employer is paying, those misprints probably go right in the garbage or recycle bin, but when you are footing the bill, it’s a different story. While you certainly don’t want to send professional documents on reused paper, if you’re only using the documents for personal purposes, why not use that blank side to print on as well?

Those are just two of the eight tips he offers in the story. How do you cut costs on your home office?

8 Ways to Save Big in the Home Office [Poorer Than You]

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