Where do you presently use disposable batteries? Perhaps in your television remote control, in the battery backup in your bedside alarm clock, in your wireless computer mouse, in your flashlight, in the little AM/FM radio you keep for emergencies like power outages, in your hobby devices, in your medical devices, and in your other small, portable electronic devices?

Let's concentrate on the two most widely used battery types in today's small consumer electronic devices: the 'AA' and 'AAA' sizes. You could easily replace them both with a battery recharger and rechargeable batteries, and save yourself a lot of money, trips to the store, and time spent in shopping. Yes, you'll spend more for rechargeable batteries than disposable batteries would cost you, and you'll have to spend a little money for the necessary battery recharger to go with them. But, you can recharge the batteries hundreds of times before they begin to lose their usability. That's right, hundreds of times - and that could save you hundred of dollars, hundreds of trips to the store, and many hours that would have been spent walking up and down store isles and standing in line at checkout.

A small battery charger a little larger than a pack of cigarettes will be adequate for 'AA' and 'AAA' batteries and will cost you between $10 and $30. If you want to have a charger that also works for 'C,' 'D,' '9-volt,' and other sizes of rechargeable batteries, you'll have to buy something that is a little bigger. Newer rechargeable batteries take just a few hours to reach full charge. It was the case years ago that a few devices had labels advising consumers to use only alkaline batteries in them, but that has mostly changed thanks to improvements in rechargeable batteries. With the possible exception of certain highly sensitive medical devices, all devices on the market can now use rechargeable batteries.