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If you do a lot of printing - either at home or in the office - you've probably been surprised by the cost of replacing your Epson ink cartridges. In some cases, the replacement cartridges cost as much or even more than the printer did in the first place!

The two most effective ways of saving money on your ink is to either refill your empty cartridges yourself or use recycled or remanufactured cartridges. You can save 70% or more when you use recycled cartridges, plus you'll be doing something good for the environment.

Most retail stores that sell ink also sell refill kits, including your local Wal Mart or office supply store. There are also many websites that sell remanufactured ink cartridges for also all models of Epson printers.

You can also often buy these ink cartridges in bulk packs, saving even more. This is ideal if you do quite a bit of printing, but be careful of these bulk packs if you don't replace your cartridges that often. They will dry out if left too long before being used, so you might end up wasting money if you buy too many.

Over the course of several years of printing, you can spend up to 100 times as much on ink as you did on your printer in the first place. This makes a strong case for using refilled ink.

There are a couple of drawbacks, however. First, Epson (and most other brands) indicates that the warranty on your printer will be void if you use refilled ink. If something goes wrong with your printer and the ink is determined to be at fault, you will be stuck paying for repairs or a replacement.

The other downside to ink refills is that they can be messy if you're doing the refilling yourself. It will depend on the model of your printer - some are easier to do than others - but you might find that you ruin a set of cartridges the first time you try to refill them. Don't worry, though - it gets easier with practice.