Investing in a good quality printer could end up saving you loads of money in the long run.

When considering which printer to buy, think about the features you want it to have, the cost of the printer itself and most importantly, how much it will cost to run.

We share FIVE secrets to help cut the cost of home printing.

Go to printer ink refill shops

Once the machine is yours to have and to hold, one money-saving print solution is to locate your nearest ink-refill centre. Yup, printer ink has become such a lucrative business that they even have shops specialising solely in refilling your cartridges.

Alternatively, use discount ink websites such as StARINK ink cartridges, which have ink for all major brands and are cheap and easy to use.

These shops can often slash your ink costs, meaning you might be able to print off all those homemade cards after all.

The printer manufacturer might try and tell you only to buy official ink cartridges or toners, or even that their cartridges cannot be refilled. This is not usually the case, so take along a few empties to a refill shop to get their theories tested.

In fact, some printer companies may even tell you that your warranty will be voided if you do not use their official cartridges. This is a lie.

According to the law, electrical manufacturers cannot be anti-competitive in their warranties. We will not go into the legal specifics, but in this case, it basically means that they cannot stop you from buying compatible cartridges/toner from other companies.

As long as your printer is still within the warranty period, the manufacturer will have to prove that using unofficial cartridges/toners caused the fault – otherwise, they have to help.

Sell old printer cartridges online

If you are not quite brave enough to refill your old cartridges, or you end up with a surplus, you can always trade in your empties for cash. It's a great way to make money from recycling.

Some sites make a living out of selling refilled cartridges, so they are more than happy to take them off your hands. If you email them and tell them what you have, they will send you a quote and a Freepost envelope to send them in. Once they have received your cartridges, you will get a cheque in the post.

Buy cheap printer paper in bulk

Admittedly there's something undeniably satisfying about splashing out on thicker, higher-quality paper to make your dissertation or docs. look longer – but please resist.

If you really want to buy more expensive paper, club together with your mates and split the cost of a ream – you will probably never get through the whole thing, anyway. As you expect, you can buy supplies of paper online.

Make your document smaller

Many individuals forget that there are also savings to be had before anything is even sent to the printer.

If you have an irritating three lines taking up a second page, check out the 'shrink to fit' option in your word processor. You can fit more text on a page by decreasing margin width, reducing text size by just one or two points, and minimising line spacing. Just make sure it's still readable!

Get savvy with spreadsheets. It is easy to find yourself with 20 pages spilling out of the printer when you thought you were printing off a small Excel document. Be sure to highlight the cells you need to print and right-click to print only those selected.

Print in draft mode

Setting up your printer software and word processor with economy budget options is well worth doing, so play around with your printer settings. Your printer will have different modes to change how much ink it uses as well as printing speed.

If you are just printing out notes, you do not need to use the premium setting for the highest-quality print. Draft mode uses the least amount of ink and will save you money, but it may not be suitable for printing out coursework or your CV. Just check that it is still readable.

Only print the pages you need. Specifying pages two to five when that is all you need will save you throwing pages away.