Let’s face it, some printable coupons waste a lot of paper when they print because just a small portion of the paper contains the actual coupon. While the rest of the sheet of paper contains either an ad or is just blank. That can end up with a lot of extra paper waste. But there are tips that you can utilize so that all that extra paper does not go to waste.
Print on both sides of the paper
The best way to avoid the paper waste associated with printing coupons is to print on both sides of the paper.
Once you have printed one coupon on one side of the paper, flip the paper over and insert it in the paper feed of your printer and print the next coupon on the back side. Make sure that you not only flip the paper over but turn it upside down too so that you don’t print on the backside of the first printable coupon you printed.
Don’t use premium paper
There is no reason to use your best printer paper for printing coupons. Keep on hand a small pile of scrap paper, perhaps the printouts from your child’s school or whatever scrap printer paper you have on hand. Just print your coupons on the reverse side that does not already have any printing on it. It does not matter what color paper you use, pink, green, yellow or blue, they all will do the trick!
Make use of the scrap paper
If you just can’t seem to get the hang of printing coupons on both sides (don’t worry getting the paper in the printer in the right direction can be a pain and even the best of us end up making mistakes and print the second coupon over the top of the first one because we did not get the paper in the printer correctly!) the next best tip is to be creative with the extra paper scraps. I like to trim ten to 20 sheets paper scraps and then staple them together creating a little book of paper which is perfect for giving to my children to color on. They enjoy writing and illustrating small story books. Keeping a few of these paper books in the car as well as some washable markers can make a boring car trip a little less… well, boring! I also like to keep a few scraps of leftover printable coupon paper on my desk near the phone for jotting down notes and messages. Sure beats buying notepads or Post-its! Even if there is printing on the reverse side of the scrap paper the blank side is still usable for scrap paper or notebooks.
Recycle It
If all else fails, be kind to the environment and place your printable coupon scraps in the recycling bin. Even when I have reused the paper in the ways mentioned above there is still little bits of “Coupon Confetti” that I put in the recycling bin.
Do you have a tip for saving paper when you print printable coupons? Share with us by posting a comment below!
