Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

             Batteries seem to be batteries regardless of the name or price.  I stay away from the no name battery.  The Maxell have given me good life in kids toys, tooth brushes and flashlights.   The Wii controller seems to blow through whatever battery it has in it so why pay an arm and a leg for the lithium.   The lithium batteries do last much longer but for the price differential these batteries are an excellent deal at $8.80 for 36 batteries at Amazon.   If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Grandchildren demand lots of batteries not just in their toys but in my cameras. I have two digital cameras that seem to suck the life out of whatever type of battery I install. I have myriad rechargeable batteries. Nicad and NiMh neither of which have been satisfying. I have tried brand name batteries and no name batteries. I have tried the expensive lithium disposable batteries but the disposable aspect offends me. Charge them up, pop them in the camera and they work just fine but they don’t hold a charge for any length of time. If I am lucky they still work 24 hours later but generally they need to be recharged on a daily basis. I read about the Eneloop batteries and liked the idea but I have 16 AA NiMh that work, poorly but they work. Then my Lenmar SpeedCharger died. Luckily it died just within warranty, although Lenmar honored the warranty they did charge me $10.00 shipping and handling or 33% of replacing it. The death of my SpeedCharger forced me to take a look at chargers and ...

My 12 volt air compressor died recently. It uses a lead acid sealed battery similar to what is in a UPS. I pulled the battery and got the info off of it and went battery hunting. From the original equipment manufacturer it was $30 plus shipping. I compared prices for a new unit similar to mine and was looking at roughly $60 so I figured replacing the battery was more cost effective. I shopped around and the best price I found was at Battery Mart . They had a good price on the battery and weren’t trying to recoup it on the shipping. Total cost with shipping was $25 and change. They shipped immediately and I had the battery in a couple of days. I will use them again and I suggest you look at them for your battery needs. This is not a paid blog and I have no relationship whatsoever with Battery Mart except as a customer. A caveat for when battery shopping, when the battery has those spade connectors, pull the leads off and measure, do not measure from the base. Apparently F1 is 3/1 6” and...

A Penny Saved is as good as one Earned. Being retired has it’s ups and downs. Some days you feel like you are on vacation and others like you are playing hooky. You spend your life working and suddenly it is ok not to be working. This blog is one way to pretend I am working; at least I have to think about what to write. The little bit of consulting and web work helps to maintain an awareness of a field in which I spent over a quarter of a century. Generating income is almost an after thought, it is primarily a ratification that what your doing has some value. I have authored some public service books on another web site that I have up as free downloads. They are focused on preschooler’s feelings about family abuse, feelings of alienation and other such sad realities of our modern family. Anytime one is downloaded, I feel like I have helped someone. I guess the point is that working tends to validate your existence. You’re bringing home the bacon, supporting the family, nobly toiling ...