Do you leave a light on?

Ever since I had my smart meter fitted I’ve been obsessive about turning off lights, switches etc.

Due to the cost of electricity, I only have one light on at a time. It saves a packet.
I turn all lights off when I go to bed, but if I go out in the evening I do leave one light on.

MayBee70

Ever since I had my smart meter fitted I’ve been obsessive about turning off lights, switches etc.

I was but if you're like me, you'll ignore it in the end.
It's a mystery.

I only have a light on if someone is staying. I use the striplight above the washbasin mirror and the light deflects beautifully through the glass door into the stairway. Perfect.

I bought some rechargeable strip lights and have one at the top of the stairs on the skirting board and one at the bottom in the hallway. They come on when we walk past them so we rarely turn lights on in the hallway or landing now. They get recharged about once a week or so. They're handy for a power cut because we can take them off the wall and carry them around.

No I don't have lights on in empty rooms or at night when we are in bed. I don't even turn the light on if I need to go to the loo in the night. I know where everything is.

Rosie51

To be fair Crossstitchfan use of capitals is considered 'shouty' which doesn't quite fit with 'polite' does it? If you were speaking face to face would you really have shouted those words at kittylester?

To be fair leaving lights on permanently and in empty rooms is very wasteful and is there any point if no one is there?

No, no lights left on here over night. Nor do I leave lights on in rooms I’m not in when I’m awake. (The only exception to this is if we go out when it’s dark, so that it looks as if someone is in - then I’ll leave one light on). It was drummed into me to switch lights off after use when a child so as not to be wasteful, and that still holds with me now.

I have a plug-in night-light on the landing (bought for when the DGDs stayed over), which gives just enough light to navigate bathroom, landing etc.

Babs03, yes, I say “big light” when referring to the central light in the lounge and in the dining room. Strangely, though, they are hardly ever used as the side lamps provide sufficient light for most things. 😁

I dislike lights on during the day and only use a sidelight in the sitting room in the evening.
I have just started leaving a light on outside my bedroom door at night leading to the bathroom close by a flight of stairs (split level bungalow) as my friend recently got up in the night in complete darkness, fell down the stairs and broke her pelvis. We both live alone and I’m sometimes up twice in the night.

Better to be safe than sorry.

What I don’t understand is why you leave two lights on all day why ??? don’t you ever consider the waste Kitty don’t you think it is unnecessary and a waste of both money and electricity

Having lived off grid for 20 years ( not now) where all our power came from solar panels and 2 wind generators leaving unnecessary lights on is a no no.

I find that lights on when it's light enough outside make me feel uncomfortable, so don't have them on unless it's getting dark. Even then, only in the rooms we're actually in. At night if either of us is up to go to the loo we use our head torches with rechargeable batteries, and the same for whoever makes a cup of coffee to take back to bed in the morning just now when it's still dark.

Yes we use torches for the loo at night, mainly so as not to wake each other up. We live in a bungalow, so only the passage way to navigate. turn on bathroom light, then back again to bed via torchlight.

All the lights in my house have energy saving bulbs, but, out of habit, I don’t leave a light on in any room I’m not using. At night, I have a small plug-in skirting board light on the landing and it’s surprising, if I wake up in the middle of the night, how much light that sheds. It saves having the landing light on which I find intrusively bright.

If the big office blocks keep their lights on all night then my one low energy bulb costing less than 1p per hour and is kept on for safety is justified. DH is dreadful and always has been as he can barely walk past a light switch without turning it on!! Drives me nuts and always had done for 50+ years.

No light on apart from the room I’m currently using, and even then I prefer lamps, hardly ever use main overhead lights. If I get up in the night for loo, I have small rechargeable motion sensor lights in the bedroom and on the landing. I leave a rechargeable nursery nightlight on in the bathroom- it’s owl shaped - gives enough light to locate loo and toilet paper!

If I have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the loo, I don't even bother putting any light on. Neither does my husband. We both manage perfectly well in the dark.

Pitch black at night. I can weave expertly out of bed to the bathroom in the night. Same if we are away in our caravan or even in a strange hotel room - I suss it out as a matter of priority.

No lights, pitch black at night to sleep. If I get up to go to the loo, no light- I know the way.

No lights on at night . I like a pitch black bedroom . I turn lights on and off when I enter or leave a room. A throw back to my childhood. Although if we’re out at night , I do leave the under cupboard lights on in thr kitchen for the dog. Plus the radio on low , so that the house doesn’t look empty.
We have a sensor light at the front and back doors .
Those who need a light getting to the bathroom at night . My mum has a sensor bulb in her landing light .

If KittyLester needs the lights, it's not for anyone else to judge.

We have a lamp in the hall from the middle of the afternoon, three lamps in the living room ditto. Undercabinet lights in the kitchen all day, two lamps in the dining room when we're eating at night. Bedside lights, bathroom lights, all go on and off as required, but during the night there are no lights on - we have Velux windows with no blinds, so there is ambient light, enough to see for those dratted nighttime loo visits. All our bulbs etc. are low energy.

However, it's would seem that various posters don't need lights, they just use the glow from their haloes ...

Even having replaced every bulb with low-wattage LEDs, I don’t waste electricity and when I’m here alone lights are only on where they need to be on. If a little grandson is here I’ll happily leave the landing light on, and his bedside lamp has a smart bulb that turns down very low. I have rechargeable motion-sensor LED lights in the bathroom and at the turn of the stairs.

If the DGC are staying we use a plug-in light on the landing, just enough if anyone wants to find the loo in the middle of the night.