A few weeks ago, one of my favorite places to save on office supplies and much more updated the terms of their rewards program. There are a few new exciting benefits that I wanted to share with you!

For years now, I have been using the Staples Rewards program to get most of my ink and paper for very cheap, if not free. Don’t use much ink or paper? Don’t worry â?¦ Staples also carries all sorts of household supplies including paper towels, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies.

Joining the Staples Rewards program is still the same and it’s completely free to become a member. Instead of earning 10 percent back in Staples Rewards on all printer ink or toner, case or ream paper, and all copy and print purchases, you’ll now earn 5 percent cash back on everything! As usual there are a few exclusions like postage stamps, gift cards, and taxes, but other than that, you’ll get 5 percent back on all of your purchases at Staples and Staples.com with your rewards card. Speaking of Staples.com, one of the new benefits of being a member is free shipping on all orders at Staples.com or orders placed over the phone at (800) 333-3330. Copy and print orders are excluded from this free shipping benefit.

My favorite part of the Staples Rewards membership, is the ink recycling program which gives you $2 per ink cartridge (any type) recycled up to a max of 10 cartridges ($20) per month. There has been a small change to this program. In order to receive the ink recycling benefit you’ll now need to purchase $30 ink or toner cartridges over six months. This purchase will need to be made without rewards certificates or coupons. I really don’t see this as a big deal. If you recycle 10 cartridges per month over those 6 months you’ll get $120 in rewards, so $90 in rewards after you deduct the $30 you’ll have to spend to be eligible for the program. Still a good deal to me!

As you may have heard me mention before, to save the most with Staples’ Ink Recycling Rewards, I purchase empty ink cartridges on Ebay. You can usually find about 20 empty ink cartridges for around $12 shipped. At $2 per recycled ink cartridge those 20 cartridges equal $40 in Staples Rewards (a $28 profit!) over a few months to be used on whatever you would like.

The other ways to save at Staples including weekly ads, coupons, and Easy Rebates have remained the same. You can find out more about these and Staples shopping at http://www.savingbydesign.com/staples.