Life can be a complex and challenging experience. Even the simplest things can turn into more craziness than we want to deal with. Then again, there are some things that rarely cause problems. Take rechargeable batteries. It is too bad that more of life doesn’t emulate them.
A rechargeable battery is as simple as it gets. You charge it when you first take it out of the package. Then you use it until its output gets too low. Do you throw it away? No, you repeat the process. Charge and use; charge and use. That’s how it works.
Rechargeable batteries are simple to use from the consumer’s standpoint. They do not require an advanced degree in chemistry. They don’t even require any technical know-how. If you can open a package and plug in a USB cord, you can use Pale Blue Earth rechargeable batteries with very little effort.
Power You Can Depend On
One of the reasons people are turning to lithium-ion batteries to replace their NiCad and NiMH cells is dependability. The charge in a lithium-ion battery lasts longer than those other two technologies. Lithium-ion discharge rates are also more consistent. Again, you do not need a science degree to understand this. Personal experience reveals it.
Wouldn’t it be nice if more things in life were as dependable and consistent? Take your bank account, for example. Most of us would be more than happy to have ours consistently recharged with the same amount of money, coupled with a consistent rate of outflow. But that’s not how life works.
You can be cruising along just fine when something major in the house breaks. Suddenly, the nice cushion in your bank account is gone. Repairs are going to cost you thousands of dollars. Your whole budget will be disrupted for the next 6 to 8 months.
A Demonstrably Cheaper Price
Speaking of your budget, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are actually cheaper, despite costing more at the cash register. If you are skeptical, do the math. You can buy a 4-pack of alkaline batteries for about $5.00. A comparable pack of lithium-ion batteries from Pale Blue Earth will cost five times as much.
Initially, it seems like the rechargeable batteries are more expensive. But consider this: you can recharge a typical lithium-ion battery a thousand times. How much would you spend on 1,000 alkaline batteries? At $5.00 for a 4-pack, that’s $1.25 apiece. Multiply that by 1,000 and you are looking at $1250. Meanwhile, you would have only spent $25 on an equivalent 4-pack of lithium-ion batteries.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could save this kind of money in other areas of daily life? Actually, you can. It just requires digging around. You can spend less on car insurance if you are willing to compare. You can spend less on everything from clothing to appliances. You just have to be willing to put in the work.
An Exercise in Paying Attention
We can learn a lot of lessons from the rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Indeed, life really can be simpler in some areas. We tend to over complicate things because we don’t take the time to stop and pay attention to the world around us.
Simplifying life really is nothing more than an exercise in paying attention. If we stop and think things through instead of just acting, we discover that we have multiple options for just about everything. Some options are more reliable; others cost less. Some options are better in ways this post has not discussed. So yes, much of life really can be as awesome as rechargeable batteries.