Affordable Ink for Free Homeschool Printables

*Disclosure: I received free product for the purpose of this review. I am not required to give a positive review. As always, I am sharing my honest opinion with you. This post contains referral and affiliate links.

If you’ve been hanging out here for long, then you know how much I love free homeschool printables. I will spend the summer getting ready for next school year by printing free curriculum , a free homeschool planner, and free assignment sheets.

Even though the resources I use are free, the cost of ink can REALLY add up. I recently spent over $65 on ink cartridges. Yikes! I want it to last so I usually print most of our school stuff in grayscale to stretch our ink as far as possible. I typically use color ink only if it is needed for the project.

I’ve discovered a way to print beautiful, colorful, vibrant pages for less than I was spending on boring draft pages. Want to know my secret? The HP Instant Ink program! And it comes with a huge bonus – I never have to remember to order ink.

What is HP Instant Ink?

When my printer died last year, my husband recommended that I get an HP Inkjet to replace it. That is what they use at work and he was very happy with the performance. I chose the HP OfficeJet Pro 8710 Wireless All-in-One Photo Printer because it met all of my requirements: affordable, fairly quick, wireless, and able to print on both sides.

My new printer was eligible for the HP Instant Ink program but I chose to not install it because I didn’t really understand how it worked. You know how an ink refill package will tell you how many pages it will print, but it really only prints that many if you are careful about your printing options? Well, that’s how I thought it worked only the ink was shipped to my door.

Here’s how it really works: You choose your monthly plan based on how many pages you need to print a month, and it doesn’t matter how much ink those pages use. Want to print 100 classic works of art for your Charlotte Mason curriculum? Do it! 100 pages only costs you $4.99 no matter how fancy they are. Print that beautifull full-color homeschool planner instead of the plain black & white one. Print those elaborate papercrafts. Print the pretty lapbook pictures instead of making your kids color them all in.

Save Money on Printer Ink

I was still a little skeptical about the program because things can look good on paper but still not be a good deal, so I decided to do the math. According to Amazon, the black and color ink cartridges that cost me $65 will print a combined 895 pages. If I sign up for 300 pages a month for $9.99, it will only cost me $29.97 to print 900 pages. That is less than half price! And HP Instant Ink lets me roll over pages that I don’t use to the next month. There is no contract – you can change or cancel your plan at any time.

Never Run Out of Ink

With the HP Instant Ink program you will never again have to run to the store in the middle of a project to buy ink. Your HP printer communicates your ink levels and you will receive ink in the mail when it starts to get low. You will also receive a prepaid envelope to mail your used cartridges back in for recycling.

Free Month

Here’s a little recap of the program:

Purchase an eligible printer if you don’t already have one. I have the HP OfficeJet Pro 8710.
Select your plan – $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 a month
Install the ink cartridges when they arrive.
Print your little heart out.

If you have trouble initially setting up your printer, just contact customer service. I hit a snag trying to reset my printer and they were very helpful.