This money-saving strategy is almost too easy - yet I'm amazed at the number of people that DON'T use it.  Up until a few months ago, I was in that number.

I'd always used rechargeable NiMH batteries in my digital cameras but I only started using them for everyday power needs by necessity.  For years I'd bought huge packs of AA batteries from the local home improvement store for about 50¢ a battery.

But, roughly 2 years ago I moved into an apartment.  With no house there weren't any "home repairs" to do - so my trips to the home improvement store were few and far between.

One evening, I discovered the batteries in my Sony Discman were shot.  Since I was late leaving for the gym (pretty much the only place I use the Discman) I just grabbed 2 of the 4 extra AA NiMH batteries from my digital camera bag.

A couple of days later, the AA batteries in my wireless mouse gave up the ghost and I replaced them with the remaining 2 extra digital camera batteries.

Needless to say, they worked great!  So well, in fact, I haven't used another one-time use alkaline battery since.  (I actually bought a batch of 32 AA Alkalines but I've yet to use a single one.  It's good they've got a 7 year shelf life!)

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