1. Stay away from newer ink jet printers that make it very difficult to
use after-market or refilled cartridges.

2. Avoid ink jet printers where the print head is separate from the ink
cartridge.

3. Set up the printers in your house so that the default printer is the
monochrome laser.

4. Try to explain to your family that they should only select the color
printer for things that absolutely need to be printed in color.

5. Show your family how to send photos to Walgreen's, CVS, or Costco for
printing.

Just my opinion, but I refuse to pay the price to own an inkjet printer.
Its not just the ink, but for photos you need special paper, and so on.
If I want photos printed, I take a flash drive to the local drug store
or Walmart, and although it's not as convenient, it's actually cheaper.

Years ago, I bought a black and white laser printer. I never had to add
toner. (I dont print very much though). That was all I needed for
simple text documents. But when that printer quit working, I decided
that it was cheaper to just take the document to the local print shop,
or the library. But that's probably only 4 or 5 times a year. I have
since reconnected my old dot matrix printer, for the rare occasion I
want to simply print something like instructions for doing a car repair
or something like that.

I would have thought that by now, they would have something more high
tech for printing. But I guess there is huge profit to be made with
inkjet. Inkjet is lousy quality for printing something like colored
posters, and if those posters are used outdoors, sunlight fades them
real fast, and even one drop of water makes the ink run down the page.

I swear everytime I go to a garage or rummage sale, there is an inkjet
printer being sold for a buck or two. Thats cuz it's cheaper to buy a
new printer than to buy the ink.