Put out that light!

My husband does this too. Always has, it drives me mad. I leave a room for a few seconds to get something and I walk back into blackness as he has come behind me and turned it off " as I am not in the room and wasting electricity". I call him the Electricity Police and tell him where to go but I love the Air Raid Warden idea, I'm going to start using that instead, also thank you to the poster who worked out how much the annual cost was, I read it out to him!!

What a silly man he is being. Show him this thread so he can see for himself how unreasonable his argument is. So, he’d prefer you to stumble about in the dark, would he, and risk an accident to yourself. No, put your foot down on this one and tell him the light will be coming on via its timer- for safety reasons. It costs peanuts to run, for heavens sake.

The thought ‘any excuse to grumble ‘ did cross my mind.

I see why you are annoyed. But I want to suggest another way of looking at it - something I want to offer in a friendly spirit and you can consider it or simply let it go.
Maybe in the great scheme of things in your life, it might help to look at this differently, I am sure that you want to be happy - we all do want that for ourselves and others we care about. Perhaps you could ask yourself if it is worth having this painful fight with your husband, which is making you both feel bad. I realise you want to deter burglars and that is sensible - but unless you live in a high crime area, perhaps this is not what matters most. Maybe finding a way to be at ease with your husband even though he is arguably wrong about the light, would lead to having a happier life.
It is a meaningful thing to be magnanimous and be the great hearted one who steps back and says in effect 'Lets let this go. Its more important to me, and our life together, to be kind and at ease. Can we move on? I'm ready to let the light issue go and want us both to get better at listening to each other.'

He is being unreasonalble. Get a flashlight for yourself, remove the light bulbs and see if that satisfies him.

Grandmaofone

This is in my experience a ‘man thing’ as women do not do this

"-&!:

Quite. Women are more likely to be passing from one room to another with armsful of washing or other items unable to shut the door or operate the light switch, so we open the door and switch the light on in advance.

It is very frustrating to then come back through only to find the door shut and the light switched off.

We were away one weekend and got burgled. It was devastating! we lost some valuables but also some stuff that was only of sentimental value.
A light on in the house is a good deterrent as most burglars will move along to a house that is in darkness and therefore less likely to have occupants to upset his/her plans.
The police actually recommend leaving a light on, on a timer, for this very purpose.

That's my dad, miser, uses a torch rather than switch the lights on. Has recently upped his electric payments to £30 a month due to his electric car!

Here, there is a low LED light inside and outside for the dogs to go out at night to do anything (outside is actually a modified inside with drains so totally secure!), I have the hall light downstairs on so if I need the loo it's safe for me to come down the stairs and aim for the bathroom. Mum has her bathroom light on all night (fixed led mount similar to the one the dogs have) so she can make several visits during the night.

We both also have torches by our beds just in case of power cuts!

You GNers are so kind.
I would tell him if he turns that light off again, I will unplug it and hit him with it so it's definitely off.
Now I know that sound violent, but it might get the point across!

Thanks for the giggle V... now I have forgotten your name having to turn over!!!!! I was feeling a bit despondent, read the post/thread on how tired we all are... so thanks for the laugh!!!

He’s clearly got the frugal mindset from decades past, which is ingrained and unlikely to change.
Just stick to your guns and say that you want it on for security and peace of mind and with low energy bulbs, it costs next to nothing to run. Also suggest he look it up, what the cost is.

I have always switched off lights going from one room to another. My Pa used to say "Who do you think is paying for the electricity?

I thought the OP had something to do with Dad’s Army from the title😂
I’m a great switcher off of lights in empty rooms but need lots of light in a sitting area.

I agree that OP's husband is behaving outrageously.
OP, would your children collectively sit down with him and explain?

I once had this with my ex-husband after I put the bills in his name. He made such a fuss about it, I turned on everything I could in the house before I went out to work and left them running all day. He was livid but the next day got his own back when he took the fuses from the fuse box to work! I'm not sure that is any help to you but it probably isn't worth getting into too much of a fight about.

Thanks to you all for your supportive and amusing messages. It is reassuring to know that I'm not being unreasonable. I smiled at some of your suggestions, although I may not act on all of them
Thanks to @PaynesGrey for the calculation I was after. I will have that up my sleeve the next time the conversation arises!
@GrannyGravy13, I am also afraid of the dark, and also know it's silly, but. (I try to take the bins out when it's still light, but if I've left it too late, I have to steel myself to do it.) Having lights on in the house really does help.
@Shelflife I don't think he has Alzheimer's but I do think that he is unnecessarily worried about money. We're not rich, but we have enough. My view is that the money we have should be being used now in a way that aids our comfort, helps us to enjoy life and makes memories for us and our children and grandchildren while we can. We can't take it with us, as they say.
On a practical note, perhaps I will tape the light switch on the lamp so it can't be turned off!

You GNers are so kind.
I would tell him if he turns that light off again, I will unplug it and hit him with it so it's definitely off.
Now I know that sound violent, but it might get the point across!

I turn off lights that DH leaves on. He doesn't really like turning anything off - likes the TV on constantly when he's home, even if he's in the garden & not likely to watch it for ages.
I'm not like OP's husband - if we're downstairs I'm OK with the kitchen, hall and living room lit, but I'll switch the upstairs lights off.
All that to say, not always a man thing!

A 40W bulb equivalent is 470 lumen. Typically it consumes about 6-9 watts of electricity.

Here's how to work out the cost.

Convert watts to kilowatts: 6 watts / 1000 = 0.006 kW

Calculate daily cost: 0.006 kW x (say) 8 hours/day x (say) £0.25/kWh = £0.012 per day i.e just over a penny for 8 hours.

(At the moment, I pay 0.2216 per kWh.)

Calculate yearly cost: £0.012/day x 365 days/year = £4.38 per year.

or what Mt61 said

This is in my experience a ‘man thing’ as women do not do this

My father was exactly like this; he would switch all the lights off except the one room we were in, and if I had a light and a lamp on he would switch one off; hall and landing lights out, no outside lights, and when he was in my house he would turn out any lights out he saw, which was why the boiler was switched off and the central heating. He turned the light off on the brand new freezer he had bought, so when they returned from holiday all the contents were ruined and the stench was awful.
There was no reasoning with him: you don't have to pay the bills was his response.

Tight bugger. LED lights hardly cost anything to run.

Lord, what a Grumble Guts! (Apologies). But you have to turn a deaf ear to his whinging and grizzling or, before you know it, he'll reduce you to a single candle in the living room which he will STILL grouse about as he sits in 'his' chair, wearing his greatcoat, stovepipe top hat and fingerless mittens!

Crikey!! What decade was he born in?
Just tell him the light’s for you and that you matter. And to stop behaving like some throwback Dad.

I am frightened of the dark (I know it’s silly) I like outside lights and hall stairs and landing lights on as soon as it becomes dusk.

I couldn’t live with someone constantly overriding my wishes/needs.

I hope you can come to a compromise with him.