When I was a kid my dad always kept his batteries stored in the top door shelf of the fridge — a habit I thought everyone subscribed to until I went away to college and realized most people don't keep batteries, butter, and Diet Coke together. A reader recently posed the question whether storing batteries in the fridge really helps them last longer, and I decided it was high time I investigate.
Find out what I learned about the practice after the jump!
As you know, daylight saving time begins tomorrow at 2 a.m., so you should move your clocks one hour ahead then. But before you go skipping away with all of your new sunlight, there's another task at hand: change the batteries on your smoke detector. You should do so at least twice a year, so it's best to just get in the habit of doing it when you change your clocks. Another thing to do this weekend is flip your mattress. To keep the wear even, you should flip your mattress both ways at least twice a year — and vacuum it while you're at it. That way, you won't have to worry about when you did either task last!
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Like humans, batteries are perishable products that deteriorate from the start of their lives. But, like eating well and using SPF, there are a few things you can do to slow their aging. Following an old wives' tale, my grandmother always kept her batteries in the freezer. As it turns out, that's not an ideal place to store them. Learn how to store your batteries when you read more
Before you toss a used battery in the trash, you might want to consider where it will end up in the waste stream. Is that battery considered hazardous? Should you take it to a recycling center? See what you know about battery recycling, as well as some eco ways to avoid trashing them, when you take my quiz.
A common problem with consumer cameras that use alkaline batteries is that they drain really quickly. Geek reader valova82 is tired of spending her hard-earned dollars on batteries, and wants some help picking a brand that will stand the test of time:
I have a Polaroid i533 digital camera. It eats my battery power (uses two AA batteries), and I'm so tired of constantly purchasing batteries. Do you have any suggestions on what brand of batteries I should try?
Oh do I! To find out what I recommend, just read more
I love the fact that gadget recycling is getting a whole lot easier. Last week I talked about the nifty Cell Phones for Soldiers bags that are now being included with Amazon orders. With these pre-paid bags, you can ship off your old phone to Recellular, a company that pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone. The U.S. Postal Service is also jumping on board with their new pilot program called Mail Back. Mail Back allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge. 
So far, there are 1,500 post offices across the U.S., which have free pre-paid envelopes for you to place your ink cartridges, digital cameras, or cell phones in. Electronics are then sent to a company called Clover Technologies Group that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets gadgets and has a zero waste to landfill policy. And what about batteries? According to Eco Chick, if you head on over to Call2Recycle, you can enter your location info to find a collection site closest to you!
