Printers?

[krystalhartley]

My eyes were just opened to the fact that apparently either a very large percentage or a very loud percentage of digi scrappers aren't able to print (due to lack of printer and/or supplies). This boggles my mind because we (my family) use our printers all. the. time. around here. School, coupons, etc. So, I'm wondering since maybe I don't Facebook, that I really am old school and completely out of the loop about how people function without printers.

What's the dealio? Am I just a dinsosaur who hasn't caught up to some newfangled way of doing stuff?

Poll incoming...

edit: I'm poll challenged. I meant for the results to be public but for the individual votes to be anonymous. Fail.

[jessica31876]

I have three printers. One with a scanner, one without a scanner and once that prints 4x6 photos. I cant afford ink right now though. It costs around 25 for color and 20 for black for new and 10 for black/15 for color if you get it refilled. The photo printer requires special ink/photo paper which is around 40 dollars for a box of like 90 I think.

[krystalhartley]

I've run out of ink bunches of times, and Walmart no longer carries the multi-packs for my older Epson, so I have to pay loads more for it elsewhere. We have a new wireless Epson that will print from your phone and all sorts of stuff. I thought I was "cool" but now I'm second guessing this printer thing. :)

When Landon was in kindergarten, I manually printed a 12-page scrapbook for each kid in his class. They were just 8.5x11 pages, but it took FOREVER and went through gobs and gobs of ink. I learned my lesson and just outsourced photobooks the next year.

[Brandy]

Well I was confused on voting because there is a printer in the house BUT it's hooked to my SIL's computer and I dare not touch it for fear I screw anything up. I HAD a printer but then it ran out of ink and I lost the cords when we moved so it ended up in the trash. I hope to get a new printer soon though I miss it.

[Andrea Gourley]

Even if I wasn't a hybrid crafter I couldn't live without my printer. I use it for work stuff - I am a teacher as well as printing letters and emails out, info on hotels I am going to, recipes, maps and directions etc.

I have an Epson with scanner - I don't use real Epson inks though, I use the cheapest compatibles I can find but looking at my printed hybrid stuff you would never realise that I use dirt cheap and I also have a HP colour laser which is like my baby :wub:

[Aggie Aviso]

I just bought one - its an HP!

[kristine]

I love my printer. I don't print LO's though (too much ink), and I'm not much of a hybrid person, but I print cards I make, photos if I need some and can't get to the photo-place, or I want them big or in a non-standard size), plane tickets (SO travels a lot), recipes, school stuff for the kids, and lots of other stuff. I couldn't live without mine either. My oldest DD (7) writes notes to people in her class in Word and prints them out - kind of like an offline facebook;)

Mine is a Canon, it has a scanner/copyer but not much else fancy stuff. Love it though.

[Julie Billingsley]

I have 2 printers. I keep my print settings on grayscale to reduce the amount of ink I use. I never print layouts or pictures at home but have done hybrid projects in color. I don't use my printer a lot, just to print out the occasional coupon really. My husband and teen son use it a lot for printing out work reports and homework. Although in the last year most of Jacob's homework has had to be turned in by email instead, so really he is printing less recently too.

[livelys]

I use my Epson LOTS - mainly for making hybridy stuff, but regardless it is well used. I tend to use genuine colour inks for mine - as I found the browns were awful when I used generic, but maybe I just need to test more generic manufacturers! I shop around lost for the best price each time I stock up in the cartridges.

I have to confess to not being a FB-er fan at all - I have tried it, but found I spent soooo much time on it that even less got done then when I'm online here, or making stuff! Besides, any free chat time I have, I like to spend here :) Unfortunately, I do find I'm getting behind in gossip between friends, so again I guess I may have to change my point of view in the near future...

[rach3975]

I must really be a dinosaur--not only do I have a printer, but I print all of my LOs at home. I don't print photos since they use up a lot more ink. Other than LOs, I use my printer occassionally. Most other things I don't need a hard copy of, but I will sometimes print recipes or labels or the Portfolio pdf. The kids' computer isn't hooked up to a printer. Anything they want printed has to be put on my computer first. Since they're still at the age where all they'd print are coloring pages and pictures of favorite characters, the extra step usually isn't worth it to them and saves me lots on ink. I have an Epson and use the genuine inks since I print LOs with it.

[scrap2day]

I had an Epson. Bought it specifically because it had "archival inks". I could barely ever get it callibrated correctly for a perfect print -- apparently because I didn't print often enough the jets would get clogged. I ended up donating it. The ink was expensive and I wasn't always thrilled with the result anyway. I really only miss it once in a while. Not having it makes it difficult to do hybrid but I really need to concentrate on finishing my layouts, not doing hybrid projects.

We have a b&w laser printer for printing school reports, etc.

[scrapmonkey]

I have an Epson. I mostly use it for printing LO's (but this gets expensive with the price of ink), hybrid projects and a few photos. I also use it for scanning old pictures and slides into digital files - it's a lifesaver.
I use my husband's Brother for printing out coupons and other B&W items, as it is wirelessly connected.

[LenaGardner]

I don't have a working printer right now but I don't miss it. I rarely print anything but when I do need to, I print it at James'. :D

[NeverendingJen]

I have a Kodak and I love it and use it at 5x a week, between printing paperwork, copying homework worksheets, printing hybrids, etc.

[lauren grier]

i have a printer.. i've run out of ink and not used it for months at a time-- but it's pretty essential imo when you're running a small business- when you have a kid in school - when you have anything important to do ^_^

[jannylynn]

I have a Kodak Easy Share and will continue to use it until it dies. I print my layouts on it because the ink is VERY inexpensive and yields a high number of prints from each cartridge. But the down side is that I only get to print 8x8.

I also use it for homeschooling. Ink is a regular thing on my shopping list so that I'm always ready when I run out.

[pewtertm]

I print my LOs at home when I have the ink! Unfortunately, it's not always in the budget and isn't high on the priority list.

[HeatherKS]

We have an HP Home All-In-One (printer, scanner, copier) and we use it all. the. time. I print hybrid stuff on it, hotel confirmation stuff for dh, coupons, coloring sheets for the kids, make copies of school notes, etc. for the kids, the list goes on and on. I also do some designing for a small t-shirt business my friend has so I print proofs on it for her. Dh buys the ink off of ebay for a lot cheaper than we can get it in stores around here. I'm not sure what I'd do without a printer at home. :blink:

[crecia27]

We have 3, 1 good photo quality printer (that is compatable with Vista, grrrr), on kind of cheap one that has a scanner and then just a good ole color one. I really one a good quality preferably wireless one that works with my laptop.

[ColleenSwerb]

If I wasn't a hybrid scrapper, I would use my printer FAR less. I print out coupons and things at work instead of at home, though if I couldn't do that I would use mine at home for a lot of that. No kids, so none of that sort of stuff to print out.

It's funny to me the people that say ink is so expensive. I have an Epson R340, and print a BOATLOAD of stuff out before I need to change carts. It has 5 colors plus black, and runs around $60 to replace all 6. But I only need to buy ink every 6 months or so. So it works out to about $10 a month in ink costs for a year's worth of hybrid goodness. That is CHEAP to me! Lol! I know I would spend far more sending things to walmart/sam's/costco/etc to be printed for my projects. Plus, I print out photos and such at home occasionally as well. 100% worth it to me.

[sarahbhb]

I couldn't live without mine...and we always have ink...the minute I notice a cartridge is getting low it goes on my shopping list. We have an HP all in one that uses the vivera inks so a cartridge is $10 for the color ones and $20 for the black...I have no idea how much I really spend on ink, some months it's $40 and some months it's $0. I home school and print a lot of DDs worksheets out from the computer plus we do lapbooks, pocket books and notebooking. I print out chore charts, recipes, coupons and of course some hybrid stuffs. DH uses it for work also but not near as much as me and DD. My printer is used on a daily basis and usually multiple times a day so it's worth it to me.

[rochelle789]

I'm one of these weirdos without a printer. I don't really feel compelled to have one. I work on a college campus where there are printers galore, so if I need something I just print it there.

[scrappurple]

I have a great printer, but buying the ink all the time is to expensive right now ($55-60). Then add paper for a 12x12 page and it is just to much. :( But some day!! :)

[mturnidge]

I don't have a fancy printer... it only gets used for school work and coupons and stuff. I never, ever print pics/LOs/hybrid stuff at home.

[chastml]

I have a printer and I use it constantly. My DH says I use mine more than an average stay-at-home-do-nothing-mom, but I couldn't live without it. I tried when my old one died and I had to buy a replacement within a week. I was going crazy. I print coloring pages, recipes, hybrid stuff, organizational stuff, bill payment confirmation, school stuff for my son, coupons, emails, directions, etc. I have to replace my ink every two months or so and they're individual tanks, so I can replace just what has run out if I don't have the money to buy the bulk pack.

[digideb]

I have one & use it ALL the time!!

[dana]

hmmm - i didn't respond to the poll b/c i wasn't sure which answer worked for me - haha - i HAVE printer, but it's a laserjet B&W printer - not for photos at all - it's high speed and used for my husband's work stuff - and i print my agenda, to-do lists, etc on it - but it's not useful for scrapping - for all my scrapbook pages i just order from an on-line company :) i've been tempted a few times to get a new printer for me - but i don't think i'd really use it that much ...

[carriesmom]

I have a Brother all in one. I use it to print documents, coupons, etc and hybrid stuff. I do not print out photos or LOs and home, I outsource it! I about died when it stopped working a bit ago but then I figured out the yellow had gone out and then I accidently put a black cartridge in the yellow slot. After a lot of cleaning I got it back to printing beautifully!

[DawnMarch]

We have several printers and use them. I try NOT to use them too much because it is expensive, but we do use them when necessary.

[Nettio]

We have two printers but only one is hooked up right now because the other one was too old to work with our wireless print server. I use it fairly regularly and have used it for hybrid stuff too. I also use the Print to PDF feature a lot for saving payment confirmations and things like that in order to save paper.

[Jennilyn]

I use our printer if I want to, but ink is so expensive, I don't do it much.

[aggiefamily]

No printer here. I just send whatever I need printed to my husband to print at work. I do have a scanner and couldn't live without that.

I plan on getting a printer soon but am baffled by all the choices. All I need is a color printer- not an all in one that will work on a network with pc and mac.

eta why: when we upgraded to Vista 2 years ago our printer wasn't compatible so we trashed it. I just haven't bought one to replace it.

[Emmy]

We have a couple printers. We have a black laser printer that I don't have hooked up right now because I gave up having an office space. And we have an Epson R800 photo printer. Until last year sometime I printed all my own layouts. I finally got to a point with printing though that it wasn't worth my time and I'd rather send my layouts to be printed. I print general stuff all the time between homeschooling and just this & that. I can't imagine not having it available.

[krystalhartley]

So some of you without printers at home have other printers that you use at work, etc. So it's not that you don't "need" printers, you just don't need them at home? (And awesome that there isn't an issue of personal vs. business use on those. That's pretty groovy.)

For those with just b/w...that would never work in my house. My kids have to do lots of stuff that requires color printing, as do I. Replacing ink (don't have to do it very frequently) is way less of a hassle and expense than running to Kinkos (they still around?) for everything.

At least I don't feel completely out of the loop now. Thanks for humoring me. :)

[Stacey42]

I have a printer but it's not photo quality so I only print coupons, the monthly portfolio, text stuff and random bit & pieces of things. It's an old HP. Replacement ink costs as much as a new printer so I end up in a massive dither every time I need more ink. But really I'm not going to start printing photos or layouts even if I had a better printer. I'd rather get them done professionally

[shastahun]

My fiance just bought us a new Canon 3 in 1 from newegg.com. I LOVE it. I've already used it to print out my wedding invitations and rsvp cards as well as a few recipes and stuff. I hope to use it more for scrapbooking once I get these invitations done.