On making an effort to save electricity
(Email subscribers, I apologize if you're getting this for the second time. I had a post-scheduling goof.)
So there's this light at the bottom of the stairs, which is really just for a little hallway thing that leads to two other rooms. And my children are f o r e v e r turning on that light just to walk to one of those rooms.
Of course, they don't remember to turn off the light.
So, I made a little sign.
And someone wrote me back.
(that little circle says, "yes.")
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
__________________________
Joshua's 365 post: Macro Monday
This reminds me of my Dad and the 1970's!
Haha 🙂 If it's not an essential light maybe you could take the bulb out for a while so they can't turn it on and get them into the habit.
We've removed several lights that were always being left on and the kids haven't noticed at all. A lot of our switches control more than one light, and for us that's the best way to keep the unneeded lights off.
You gotta love it. My husband feels the need to turn on the light by the dogs' kennels so they can eat. Really Mr. Ray? I think that the keen sense of smell that a dog has to eat the grossest (is that a word) things in the world can get them to their dog food. Ugh.
My kids insist on turning on both lights in the upstairs hall. One is the stairs light and the other is just a hall light. 2 switches. 3 feet apart. It's a work in progress trying to train them otherwise. They turn on the porch light when turning on the front hall light (a switch for the light at the top of the stairs is there too). I suspect that's because it's three switches for one plate.
Kristen,
Put in a motion sensor light switch that will activate when the kids walk through the hall--then will automatically shut off after a few minutes. They have those all over my office, and they work really well. Just get one at Home Depot.
We did this in our powder room. It solved the "heating up the bathroom" problem. It also shortened bathroom visits as the light is on a timer and goes off if you sit to long! You can over ride this feature if an adult needs to have more time 🙂
My 7 year old is constantly turning on all the lights as he goes upstairs to get something at night, and of course, forgetting to turn them off. I'm pretty sure he's afraid of whatever might be lurking in the shadows, and I can remember my own fears when I was young.
I think the reply is hysterical and shows their sense of humor. Maybe they need extra light for a spooky-to-them basement? If not, I like the idea of just removing the light bulb.
Oh yeah, it made me laugh too!
I agree with the motion sensory light switch ~ they are awesome! We have one in our son's playroom and it comes on and stays on while he is in the room and then automatically shuts off 10 minutes after he leaves. It is a single switch though ~ I'm not sure how you would handle that since I see your panel has 3 switches on it. It's something to consider though...
Have a great day, FG!
That made me chuckle. I may have to adopt that sign. I probably would get the same kind of comment. My 10 year old is still in training and thinks that he NEEDS all the lights on upstairs.
Removing the lightbulb would solve that problem.
Roughly 20% of the bulbs in my house are removed or deliberately left dead. I don't need 5 bulbs in the bathroom, for example.
Maybe place tape over the switches? That way if they really need it they can take it off. But if they don't they probably won't want to make the extra effort.
See, the problem is, that switch also controls the laundry room lights. So there is often a legitimate need to turn it on. But if you're turning it on so you can walk through the 4 feet of hallway to get to the office or bathroom, that's a little ridiculous.
Okay, now Kristen--didn't you like my motion sensor idea? 😉 It also has three settings--motion activated, on, and off. So, if you need to keep it on, you can. If the kids are just flying through--it goes on, lights there way, and then turns off in a few minutes. I'm very hurt that you didn't like my idea...LOL! 😉
And I can spell, too...lights "their" way... 😉
I'd have to put some thought into exactly where to mount the sensor. That area of the house is set up really oddly (someone designed it poorly), so the switch is in a high-traffic place, but it controls a less trafficked area, if that makes sense.
My kids got sick of me hunting them down and making them turn off whatever light they'd left on (rather than doing it myself) and they don't leave lights on anymore. Wish I could train my husband! The only time he seems to EVER turn off a light is if I'm sitting in the room he's leaving!
I really hate the phrase "train your husband." That implies he's an animal and not capable of thinking for himself. :-/
You can always add one of these...
http://www.switchplatesuperstore.com/clearview-light-switch-guard.html
I think if someone made a sign like that for me, I would've responded the same way. In the end, with energy efficent bulbs it's not really as big a deal as it once was. Plus who knows, maybe when the kids are all moved out you'll miss when they were young and forgot to turn the lights off.
I hate living in dark houses so I confess to being guilty of this. I do use energy efficent light bulbs at least.
Just to be clear, the whole sign exchange is on the light-hearted side of things (and this post is meant to be that way too.) I know there are bigger fish to fry than light bulbs when it comes to energy use, and it's not like my kids get into trouble for leaving lights on. I just want them to be mindful of what they're doing and to get into a habit of just using what they need.
"Light" hearted?
Battra92 probably knows this already but for those who don't: CFLs burn out faster if they're on for only a short period of time. IIRC the rule of thumb is that the light needs to be on for more than 5-10 minutes for the CFL to save money. Shorter than that, you'll spend more to replace the bulb than you'll be saving in energy to light it.
Which is why for places I use the light for only a few minutes - the dark corner that the deep freezer is in, for example - I use incandescent bulbs.
I've decided not to replace our hall lightbulb when it finally burns out. Now burn out already!
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink....however, you can remove the light bulb. 😛
I just had to laugh and smile. I get save the world lectures from those who drive solo, have long showers and leave things on. So thank you.
LOL! I was thinking of writing my night owl husband a check list of all the items that can be unplugged before he goes to bed. After seeing this perhaps I should reconsider.
Was the reply from your husband? This looks like something mine would do!!
These ideas sound really interesting. For our household, we have 8 people living in our home and the amount of lights on at any given time has been insane, at all hours day or night. We thought about a year ago to convert all of our light bulbs to LED lights to save money. We found that the bulbs were super expensive! We kept looking for a better deal, like really who can afford to spend $30-$80 on each light bulb. Finally we found an amazing website, which was offering a fantastic deal on LED bulbs. We changed all the bulbs in our home for under $500.00 and to date have saved so much money on our electrical bills to cover the cost of the bulbs and leave extra in our pockets. It was really worth it for us. I recently contacted the website again to ask about getting more bulbs for our friends. They said they will be reposting their LED lights again soon, but would continue to accept orders on request. So I sent them an email and they were very nice. Sent me prices right away and I will be helping my friends place their orders this week. For those people who are looking into a long term solution for saving money, I'd say check out LED lights as an option. It worked for us.
No one likes a nag.
I think you might be taking the sign and this post a little too seriously. 😉 We all (the kids, Mr. FG and me) had a good laugh over the sign and over the modification. It's all in good fun, and no one here is upset about it.