As this school year wraps up, my household is getting super excited about summer. As teachers, out summers are spent half preparing for next year, but in a good way. Surely I am not the only one to find joy in restocking supplies, finding awesome back to school deals, and maybe picking up something new for the classroom. For both new and seasoned homeschoolers and teachers who share my excitement about Expo markers and stacks of cheap notebook paper, today’s tip is about two tools that I use often in my classroom and that are often included in back-to-school sales: my label maker and my printer.
I purchased my Brother PT-1280 label maker in my second year as a classroom teacher on a back to school promotion at Office Max, summer 2004 (I cannot believe I remember those details but not what I ate yesterday, lol). The newer versions cost about what I paid way back then. This little workhorse has been pumping out labels for almost 22 years. The refills are still available on Amazon, ebay, and at most major retailers, but I find the off-brand refill tapes work just as well for a fraction of the price. We use this little gadget for everything. I label jars in my fridge, drawers in our craft closet, and every plastic baggie, binder, and file folder in our classroom. It has been one of the best purchases I have ever made as a teacher and as a mom.
The other daily workhorse in our classroom is the printer. I will tell you we have an Epson Ecotank PT-3850 that works well as a cheap ink printer if it is used often. I don’t think it is the best for high quality photo prints; it is okay, and will work in a pinch, but if there is time we order photo prints from Walgreens or Walmart rather than print at home. Refill ink is available at Sam’s Club and Costco for cheaper than office retailers, but there are many off-brand options on Amazon. We go through a set of refill bottles about once a year.
This is our second Ecotank printer, and what I have learned over the years is that if it is not used frequently (as in daily) the ink starts to dry on the printhead, leaving lines on whatever is printed. The printhead then has to go through a cleaning cycle, sometimes more than once, to print properly again. This is a huge pain if one is in a hurry to print something and needs it to look good. Not a fan of this. Fortunately, our current season of life has us going through a Costco sized ream of paper every few weeks and our Ecotank has not needed a print head cleaning in a while. These tend to go on sale during the summer and during Black Friday sales.
If you are not a family that uses a printer all that often but is looking for an option for a quality printer with affordable ink, I recommend an HP OfficeJet printer and the HP Instant Ink program. For a monthly membership fee, they monitor your printer usage and automatically send you new ink cartridges when you start to run low. I used HP Instant Ink before we switched to EcoTank, and never ran out of ink. I could switch membership levels for months when I did heavier printing. Current members get a referral bonus when someone signs up through their link, so check with friends for anyone with a referral link. The printer is cheaper but ink is more expensive, so do the math to see what will work best for your situation. HP also has a Smart Tank printer with bottle refills now, but I have no personal experience with, it so I cannot say how it compares to the Epson. Might be worth a try when my Epson finally kicks. All levels of HP printers are often included in the back-to-school sales.
It is always exciting to open a new classroom gadget and start using it, and doubly exciting to find a great deal on it during a back-to-school sale. Amazon is great about sending notification about items on wish lists going on sale, and prices often drop to compete with sales at other major retailers. Start that Amazon wish list with notifications today to track the prices on label makers and printers, and start thinking about all the things you will label and print.
North Star Homeschool Resources 