Home printing gets greener. And probably cheaper. at Cool Mom Tech

Tuesday 28 December

Home printing gets greener. And probably cheaper.

So I've finally found the perfect muffin recipe online, and I desperately want to print it out to have in hand while in the kitchen. But I've committed to avoiding printing because I want to be more eco-friendly. What do I do?

I go to an amazing website that's helping out with that very issue.

PrintWhatYouLike.com allows you to go to any web page and select, isolate, and print only what you actually need, so you'll use less ink and paper. With just a few clicks you can remove ads, delete unneeded images, widen columns, even increase the font size. I also find it's smart for printing online directions, forms, or articles or blog posts (like this one!) you really want to save.

I signed up for a free account and gave it a test run with a recipe. Here's a before sample:

And after:

Print What You Like eco-friendlier printout

As you can see, there's a huge difference when you ditch the ads and the header, and keep a single image and just the relevant content.

And if you're really green, you'll use the back of the same sheet of paper for the next recipe. Smart and easy. -Cecily

[image: hp; via unplggd]

Special thanks to Unpluggd.com for pointing this great site out.

Find More: Free or close to it, Green Tech, Helpful Services, Printing, Websites Worth a Bookmark

6 Comments

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Jen | December 28, 2010 2:28 PM | Reply

I don't understand how this is different from just selecting what I want to print and clicking Print --> Selection? This is how I always print recipes, blog posts, etc. where I just want a bit of the information to print. I can't adjust the font size, but if I wanted to do that, it's just a quick copy and paste into Word with a few clicks. I can't imagine paying for a service to do that for me!

Cecily | December 28, 2010 2:56 PM | Reply

Hey Jen! I totally get that, but the site is actually free! (We wouldn't tell you to pay for it either.) And you get greater control over how the page looks.

I particularly like it for recipes I plan to save, because I can make them the right size to fit in my box.

Jenn C | December 28, 2010 10:26 PM | Reply

I'm going to give this a try! Depending on how some sites are laid out/coded, using my browser's "print selection" doesn't always work that well.

Brenna | December 28, 2010 11:51 PM | Reply

I think it's a great idea, especially since it is free! There are so many times when you waste paper printing out the ads, etc!

Nava | December 29, 2010 4:40 AM | Reply

Soooooo cool! Now to find where my toddler hid the printer cord..

teri | December 29, 2010 8:39 AM | Reply

I like it. It's easier than selecting, putting into a word doc and then printing, which is what I do now. Good find.

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