It was my hubby's bright idea, actually. He came home from Costco (one of the only places he enjoys shopping) with this lovely package of rechargeable batteries:
Although we don't really use that many battery powered gadgets (we prefer items that recharge with a cord and we avoid electronic toys like the plague), we do still need them from time to time.
I've just never really thought about it enough to bother with spending the money on rechargeables (because they do cost significantly more upfront), although after having them for a couple of months now, I can already see how much $ we will be saving as well.
Less waste and less cost? Sounds like a winner to me!
Do you use rechargeable batteries? Why or why not?
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Great in theory, but they don’t hold a charge at all. It gets very frustrating!
I agree. For me, I had always been a fan of rechargeable batteries because I fell that it is cheaper in the long run and more environmentally-friendly.
I completely agree with the sentiments about trying to avoid battery use all togther! I think we have about 5 items or so that use batteries (and I’m right with you on the toy issue, Nola!). Though they’re used infrequently, it is nice to have batteries when we need them.
I also agree that they don’t last as long as a regular battery before needing a charge, but these particular ones that we’ve bought seem to be pretty high quality. They’re made by Sanyo. I’m fairly happy with them.
Yep, we made the switch, and it’s a great investment!
Even better, instead of getting a regular charger, we splurged and paid $10 more for the 15 minute charger. Best investment ever… period.
So when the batteries go out in our digital camera or anything else, it’s back up and running in 15 minutes!
And to Lisa, we had that problem before, but we had to mess with the settings in our camera. If it’s programmed for regular batteries, it will use rechargeable differently, and vice versa, so mess with the battery settings and see if you can set it to rechargeable… then rechargeable batteries will become your best friend! :)
I too have found that rechargeable batteries do not hold a charge well or for very long. I wouldn’t mind recharging more often, but eventually, that rechargeable battery still has to be disposed of. Using rechargeable batteries certainly means less batteries, but I think I want to concentrate my efforts on reducing the number of items I use that require a battery.
Our family keeps a big jar for used batteries. Everyone knows that a dead battery goes in the jar and not the trash. When it gets full, we take them to the recycling center.
Rechargeable batteries have been a disappointment to me. We have them for our camera and as soon as one set was used up, I’d charge them and put the other set in the camera. AFter just a couple times, I found that they weren’t holding a charge. They are the energizer brand. We also have trouble with our camera’s flash working and we’ve found disposable batteries to work better. Maybe I’ll try another brand one day, but right now that’s where we are …
We do use them for the very few things that we have that use batteries (camera, furance thermostat, alarm clock for backup only etc). We have no battery toys or baby items that use them. We got those shaker flashlights instead. I can’t stand batteries for a few reasons- they are not good for the environment (wasteful to produce again and again and also they are hazardous waste not meant for the regular garbage) they seem like a huge waste to me, cost money to replenish and also make annoying noises when it comes to toys (not to mention they usually are for toys that lack in creativity or long-lasting, quality play). We use rechargeables for the other things because its less money long-term as well as less waste. I think the primary goal though should be trying to find alternatives to things that need batteries both in terms of saving money and also helping be a good steward.
If I remember correctly, I think this package from Costco cost about 2-3 times what we would normally pay for the two packages of batteries it came with (one AA and one AAA). Seemed expensive at the time, but as soon as you start recharging them a couple months later and realizing that you aren’t having to go and fork out more money on new batteries, the cost starts to seem minimal.
We can recharge these hundreds of times, and the amount of electricity it takes is barely worth mentioning. I’m sold on them now. :)
Funny you should post this today. My husband and I were just talking about this yesterday. We currently do not use rechargeable batteries, but we use a lot for stuff around the house like toys, etc., that we were thinking it might be both better for our pocketbook and the environment.
I guess I am concerned it will be a big upfront investment. Is that true? I don’t know but want to learn more about using rechargeables.
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