This is not a first for this... However usually the starter inks they give you are lesser capacity so instead of getting 500 pages you only get 250 pages printed etc so its usually not cheaper for price per page printed. If inks that print 500 pages cost $30 and a new printer that prints 250 pages is $20, then your actually paying $10 more to print 500 pages.
They get you coming and going!
Their business model is to hook you into their printer to make up for the reduced cost inkjet in selling you the inks later so it is against their model to buy printers to toss them away when the ink is used up. Additionally last time I went to get rid of a printer the dump was charging fees to get rid of electronic waste so you have that cost too unless you can find someone who wants a free new printer only used once with no ink.
I too look for ways to save money and have even bought stuff to break it to get guts from it cheaper than making/buying parts to build projects etc. For example I needed circuitry to control daily triggers like a time lock, and so I got an alarm clock for $15 that had a LED lit up for each day of the week in which week days were green and weekends red. I opened it up and removed the LEDs and wired up a ribbon cable from the LEDs to my board with optoisolators to drive the optoisolators and drove relays off of the optoisolators using the LEDs drivers from the alarm clock. Project cost me $40 in parts to make and 2 hours time to solder up my prototype relay control board driven off alarm clock. It would have cost me more time and money if I built it from scratch and hey it came with a FM radio built in too.
. It was for an IT application that I dont wish to give away because there is nothing out there like it and dont want the idea ripped off if I decide to run with it some day to make some money.
Needed a MicroSD Card for additional storage capacity for my new tablet and pulled one from a TracPhone that I bought for $5 to add the 4GB MicroSD card to my android tablet so I can have more storage. Phone will work also without the extra 4GB MicroSD in it.
Needed night light bulbs for my daughter when she was younger and she was scared of the dark. Bought a string of 25 medium size clear christmas lights, same 4 watt bulbs that night lights need. I got 25 bulbs for $6 where as if I bought the bulbs in a pack it would be 2 bulbs for $2.49.
Christmas lights also generally are cheaper to buy new sets than it is to buy replacement bulbs. I have a box of the 1 light goes out they all go out type to pull bulbs from to make working sets. Pull all the bulbs from a string of them put then in a zip lock baggy for spare bulbs and toss out the tangled set wiring after first also removing that tiny fuse from the plug in case I need one of those too. Replacement miniature bulbs I have seen in a 10 pack for $1.96 at walmart. You can get a string of 35 for $1.96, pull the bulbs and toss the wiring and have 25 more bulbs plus maybe the plastic plug body for bulb is the same to avoid having to put the 2 bulb wires through.
Needed another USB charger for my car when one i had broke. USB charger cigarette lighter type was $12.96 at walmart. I saw a tracphone for $9.96 and it was same model as my phone. Got spare phone with battery and extra 4GB MicroSD Card which I used for extra storage in my digital camera that had internal memory and a microSD card slot that was empty and both extra wall charger and cigarette lighter type charger and $3.00 cheaper.
I can go on and on about stuff I bought that was to save money and break or disassemble or split and use parts for multiple needs tossing out whatever isnt needed. My wifes car also by the way her tail light socket seal leaked and ruined the contacts. Before getting rid of my 1997 Mazda 626 that i got my moneys worth out of running it into the ground I pulled the fuses, bulbs, and tail light bulb sockets to have a couple spares. Was able to add the Mazda socket to a chrysler tail light and wire it up. Still working 3 years later, but if bulb burns out she needs a tail light bulb for a 1997 Mazda 626 and not a 2006 PT Cruiser.
