What kind of paper and printer should I use to print out my family tree notebook pages?
Part of my genealogy notebook system involves taking the digital pages I create on my iPad and printing them out to add to my “real” notebook. I used to just print the pages out on standard letter paper but I found out that changing the paper actually makes a huge difference in how the prints come out, especially when it comes to printing copies of photos or other images I need to be high quality.
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The best thing for photos would be to always use photo paper, but letter sized photo paper is pretty pricy and it isn’t practical for a notebook that you can also write in and carry around. The compromise I’ve found has been to use a heavier weight paper in 100 brightness. I started with 32lb paper but 28lb paper turns out copies that are almost as good and the 28lb paper is more affordable, especially when you buy a box at once.
As far as ink goes, I use a professional HP printer (not as expensive as you’d think, really!) and I pay $10 a month for an ink subscription that lets me print up to 300 pages per month. There are smaller subscriptions but between the genealogy pages and all of the stuff I print as a mom, I actually come close to 300 most of the time and $10 a month is a lot less than I used to spend on ink.
The printer is also connected to the HP service so when the ink is low new ink is shipped out automatically and usually arrives before I need it, which means I never have the problem of suddenly being out of ink with printing to do. I’ve been on the service for a little more than three years and I recommend it to everyone!
