The bank I use for my savings is not insured by the FDIC. It is an old tin popcorn bucket.

If the nickels, dimes and quarters I put in that can continue to mount, I will be able to retire to a premium cardboard refrigerator box with a river view.

Most of us try to save as best we can. The modern need to buy and maintain a computer in the house doesn't help. Recently I asked readers for money-saving tech tips.

Cut printing costs

One of my favorite tips came from Ben Spotts. He's moved from an inkjet printer to a laser printer.

There's never been a doubt that lasers are cheaper to operate. The last time I replaced the ink cartridges on my inkjet printer, I paid about $80. Lasers are an especially good choice for people who routinely produce a lot of pages with their printer, as is true in my home.

The hang-up has been the initial purchase price. Inkjet printers, even good ones, can be had for $100 or less --- much less than a laser would cost. Until recently, when you shopped for color lasers you needed a credit card in very good standing. That's changed, Ben notes:

"After reading your article Sunday, I thought you may want to let your users know that they may now have an alternative to inkjets for color prints. I bought the OKI 3200n about six months ago. My OKI cost $299 after rebate, with the cartridges going for $69 retail for each color and $39 for the black.

"Seems like a lot of money until I remembered that I spent almost $70 for a set of inkjet refills for my Epson 800 at CompUSA several months ago. The color laser cartridges for the OKI should provide 1,500 printouts. So far I have printed 215 sheets, a lot of them full-color photos, with the printer stating that I still have 70 percent of the toner left."

Black-and-white laser printers are, as you would guess, cheaper than color printers. My own suggestion would be to use a black-and-white laser for bulk printing and the color inkjet for times you want to print out a photograph, or need color in a document. The upfront investment should pay off over time.

Try a hand-me-down

Just as a new car automatically loses a lot of its value the moment it rolls off the showroom floor, expensive computers get cheap fast when they leave the store. Alan Bornstein has found a way to make this pay off.

"No matter where you work, there is bound to be one or more 'tech heads' who just absolutely have the latest in desktops/laptops. The trick is to get to know one of these fine individuals and work out a deal to buy their slightly used [but to them completely obsolete] equipment so they can more afford to get the latest gadget they can't live without.

"I have had an arrangement like this for some years now, and the person even lets me trade in what I have for discount on what he wants to sell me. My last 'upgrade' for a desktop was $80."

Do some of it yourself

If you take a computer into the repair shop to get new memory chips or to replace a hard disk, the costs can mount up fast.

For many people, that's an expense that makes sense --- after all, most people don't try to fix their microwave oven.

But for the adventurous like Steve Goodrich, opening up the computer case is a lot better than opening the wallet.

"A biggie I have found is encouraging users to read a little! You can do many things on your own like changing a battery to a CPU fan. Many are afraid to take off the computer's cover and will pay others up to $40 per hour to do simple things they could be doing themselves. All people need to do is Google any given subject, and instructions for everything are there. Before long they will be eliminating many of those hundred-bucks-a-pop trips to the computer repair shops."

Truth is, many repair firms charge up to twice the $40-an-hour rate that Steve quoted. So the savings are there.

Gregory Washington had the same notion.

"I read the technology section of some of the major newspapers, like your column for help and advice for free help. Google and Yahoo are another good source of help, but the best thing about all of this resource is that it is free, except the cost of the ISP itself."

I have to endorse that advice --- after all, if you stop reading this column, I'll have to make an early withdrawal from my popcorn can.

tecbud@ajc.com