Some of the new rules taking effect include:

• It is now illegal for anyone to manufacture, sell, or import children’s products that contain any more than 300 parts per million of lead in any part or material of the item. The old standard was 600 ppm. Consumer paints and surface-coating has also dropped from 600 ppm to 90 ppm, some of the strictest limits in the world.
• Manufacturers are required to place tracking labels on any children’s product aimed at kids aged 12 and under in order to ensure additional protection should there be an issue.
• Any advertisement for specific toys and games for children between the ages of three to six must contain warnings about the potential choking hazards for kids under the age of three. These advertisements include television, radio and print advertisements. This rule was created especially due to the online market, where consumers can not physically view a product as they can in a retail setting.
• Violations of the rules will result in some heavy fines that can reach upwards of $100,000 per violation up to a maximum of $15 million for series of such violations. The Consumer Product Safety Commission believes that the increased fines will send a strong message to those who did not take past warnings seriously and opted instead to pay the fines while continuing to distribute and sell unsafe products to the nation’s consumers.

The measures are not only put in place to increase the safety and health of families and children but to also improve the wavering confidence of consumers who have been dealing with increased recalls as well as economic issues.

Tougher Laws Mean Safer Kids was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Batteries that only seem to last a few hours before they don’t deliver enough power to make the toy or game work.  If you try to save a few dollars by purchasing the store brand batteries, forget about it! They end up not being strong enough to operate the toy in the first place, or they only work for about half the time the more expensive brands work.

On a typical month, we purchase an average of the following Energizer batteries (because we found buying cheaper batteries resulted in less run-time and we had to buy them more frequently):

1. 12 Pack of Triple A Batteries:   $12
2. 12 Pack of Double A Batteries: $11
3. 8 Pack of D Batteries: $14

For a grand total of around: $37 a month or $444 a year.

I about passed out when I figured this out.

Now, there may be a month that we just let the toys run out of batteries, but this is the average cost to keep them powered up and running properly each month. 

I have rechargeable batteries for my digital camera, and I wondered how much I could save if I invested in enough rechargeable batteries to keep our toys powered up for the kids.  Assuming I didn’t already have chargers (which I do) this is what the price breakdown would be:

1. An Energizer universal charger will charge at one time four triple A batteries, or four double A batteries, or four C or D batteries; or 2 9Volt batteries.  You can buy a universal charger for about $30.  The average recharge time is from three to five hours.
2. An 8 Pack of Double A, rechargeable batteries runs around $18
3. An 8 Pack of Triple A batteries runs around $18
4. A 2 Pack of D batteries is about $9, and we would personally need at least 8. I couldn’t seem to find these sold by Energizer in larger packages, so the initial cost for 4 packs would be $36.

Grand total? $102.  For a little more than what we pay in two months time, we could invest in a battery charger and rechargeable batteries and power all the toys and games all year long.  I’m sure that rechargeable batteries have a limited lifespan but they’d only have to last a few months to get the investment back and make it worth it.

In addition to saving some money for yourself, rechargeable batteries are better for the environment since you throw them away s0 infrequently.

Don’t Charge It- Recharge it was created by and is property of American Consumer News.