Save money & help the environment – don’t overcharge your mobile phones

People could save money and help the environment simply by not overcharging their mobile phones – they only need 2 or 3 hours, not the 8 or more that many leave them charging.

It seems 1 in 8 adults end up charging their mobile phones for 8 hours, even though the battery is likely to have been full after just 2 or 3 hours.

We could save money and support the green efforts just by considering how long we need to recharge our mobiles and only recharging them when the battery is very low.

According to moneysupermarket.com, surprisingly, those under 20 seem to be the worst culprits with nearly 50% admitting that they charge their mobile phones for an average of 7.3 hours each time.

Women are apparently the more evironmentally conscious with only 11% overcharging for an average 6.8 hours.

Manager of mobiles at moneysupermarket.com, James Parker, says ‘There have been some great advances in green technology from mobile phone manufacturers recently but all that goes out of the window when people are overcharging mobiles – wasting energy and driving up their utility bills.’

If you’re like many people and plug your phone in overnight you could help matters by either

• getting an eco-charger which stop charging once the battery is full or
• use a timer on the plug so you can switch off the recharging after a certain time.

Apart from the green environment element, it seems a real shame to save money on many of the fantastic mobile phone deals, only to then waste it by overcharging and using unnecessary extra electricity.