What things pay for themselves?

I was thinking about how much we had saved by buying the battery charger I mentioned earlier.
I think we have had it about 15 years.
If I bought a packet of 4 batteries for 3.99 and used them once, they would cost £1 each.
Recharged and used again,they would cost 50 pence each.
Again would cost 33 pence each and again 25 pence.
WE would buy probably 8 sets of batteries in a year as all the cameras use Alkaline batteries and every one has an MP3 player.
8 X £4 is £32
In the first place we might buy £32 worth so that everyone has a set for a camera and a set for an MP3 player but the next time around,
1st recharging the batteries saves £16.
2nd recharge would save £21.12
3rd charge would save £24
4th charge would save £26.72
The better batteries will charge 4 times before being unchargeable.

If you did this sequence for a year you would save £87.84
The charger was £20 and also charges rechargeable batteries.
It would have paid for itself the second time it charged everyones full set.

You often see discarded batteries in the street where they have been removed from MP3 players and just thrown down. These can be recharged if they have a little bit of power remaining.
If you buy second hand electricals, they often have a set of batteries in which can be rejuvenated.

Rechargeables are cheaper now than they were 15 years ago but still run at around £5 for 4 and all depending on size.
With the non rechargeables, you can easily have 3 or 4 charged sets in your bag ready to swap out when your light dims or your camera or MP3 begins to sound tired.

Our charger can charge large sized D batteries(cycle light size) and below and so paid for itself ridiculously fast as we biked a fair bit to get to scouts or drama for the kids .
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We bought our breadmaker some 5 years ago.
 It was about £32
Bread at the time was about 48 pence and we went through about 5 loaves a week .
So we were spending  £2.40 on the cheapest, pappiest, stick to the roof of your mouth 'bread'.
 A bag of flour was around 48 pence and yeast was about 99p a tin.
We could get 2.10 loaves from a bag and about 17 loaves from the yeast.
About 2 pence of electricity.
So about 30 pence a loaf to make it in the machine.
The machine bread was more filling so we made 4 loaves a week to do the same job as 5 shop breads.

We were saving about £1.20 a week on bread
 The bread maker paid for itself in 6 months.
We are still using it today and bread is far more expensive while flour is now 68 pence(32,38 a loaf)  and yeast around 55p(3.23) .a loaf cost is now about 38 pence in the machine.
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My Bicycle.

In 1980 I was traveling 6 miles to work and the same back in London.
The  fare was £8 a week Plus the waiting was tedious and could easily be an hour for going home.
The trip took around 35 minutes on a good day due to London traffic.
I decided to buy a Bicycle to do the trip.
I wanted a new machine. A mans frame because they are less whippy.
So I paid £315 for a machine with 12 gears and a leather saddle and added some lights and a saddle bag.

At first my trip took longer than the bus because I had to walk up the hills but soon, about a month I think, I could ride the whole way.
It wasn't long before my trip was taking me 25 minutes.
The machine had paid for itself in just commuting costs in 9 months.

In 1984 I moved jobs and worked 15 miles from home. It was a train ride costing around £50 for a months ticket or free on my bicycle. It took 58 minutes to cycle it or about 2 hours by public transport.

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As with all of these instances, once the original purchase money is reclaimed in savings,the purchase is actually earning you money in future savings.

I still have that bicycle. It was an expensive outlay in 1980 but is still perfectly sound today.

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Sometimes it pays to sit down with a paper and pencil and do the maths!