Why so many light bulbs??? - Page 3

[Peppermint Leaf]

The Gas and Electric combined is approx $200 per month.
However, we have 5 fireplaces and I quite often use those to just heat the room I am in rather than turning on the furnace .. and I try to stick to one load of laundry per day .. and most of it is hung up rather than in the dryer... and although I have quite a few light bulbs -- I usually only have lights on in the room I'm in

[Drummer's Wife]

Peppermint, I am impressed by how low your utility bill is! what the heck am I doing wrong?

also, how cool that you have 5 fireplaces... I'd love one in my master bath, awww.

I want to see pics of your home now, if you are up to sharing

[mpchez]

we have electric heat : AND an electric water heater :
so i'm sure my 24 lightbulbs, even if left on constantly would probably be just a drop in the bucket of our electric bill

[Peppermint Leaf]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

Peppermint, I am impressed by how low your utility bill is! what the heck am I doing wrong?

also, how cool that you have 5 fireplaces... I'd love one in my master bath, awww.

I want to see pics of your home now, if you are up to sharing

I am hoping by the end of the month to do photo's .. but I am spending all my time in my garage and my house has gone to pot!!

Fireplaces are:

Upstairs in Master Bedroom
Mainfloor: Living Room, Family Room, Guest Bedroom
Basement: Rec Room

Our DS asked for one for his bedroom for christmas .. but we didn't get him one.

Sounds like a lot -- but I almost never have my furnace on .. If I feel cold I throw a sweater and turn on the fireplace..... also I am chubby right now .. so I have lots to keep me warm

[Purple Sage]

Originally Posted by mpchez

we have electric heat : AND an electric water heater :
so i'm sure my 24 lightbulbs, even if left on constantly would probably be just a drop in the bucket of our electric bill

And you're in New England...yeah, I bet the light bulbs don't amount to much of anything compared to heat!

Peppermint, I'm also impressed with how little energy your (seemingly very large ) house uses. Good job!

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

our bill is usually about $400 per month but that includes both gas and electric. For the most part, they are each about half that amount, so $200ish for electricity.
.

Good lord! This is why I am happy to have a small house. My electric bill is usually less than $30 a month (it is combined with water and sewer, which usually run me another $60 a month - we have very high utility rates compared to the national average and they increased 9.5% this year alone!). The $30 of electricity runs: lights, computers, washer/drier, and very old appliances. I line-dry as much as I can to keep costs down. We are very energy conscious, so I think it makes a difference too.

As for gas bills, December and January usually run us around $200. We only keep our heat at 60 degrees, so it's not like we're living in luxury for that price. We just have high gas rates, and they are always going up. Plus my house is old and rather drafty...we've replace may windows to make it more efficient, but you can only do so much to a nearly 100 year old house .

[lightheart]

thinking back to when I was a kid... our house had 8 lights, and 2 of them were on the porches! Times have changed.

Our friend who is an electrician has gobs and gobs of lights... electrical outlets too. Considering he lives in a yardbarn and has an outhouse it really is a riot. They cost him nothing to install because he does all the work himself and many times gets the fixtures for free when he remodels for someone because he gets the old fixtures he takes out.

I have a question for the folks who just leaves the bulb out of the socket... do you ever worry about the socket being hot and someone getting hurt? I've always left a burnt out bulb in the socket for saftey. I am I just a worry wart?

[Zannah]

Originally Posted by lightheart

I have a question for the folks who just leaves the bulb out of the socket... do you ever worry about the socket being hot and someone getting hurt? I've always left a burnt out bulb in the socket for saftey. I am I just a worry wart?

I never actually thought about that happening before, but most of our fixtures have those dome covers so I never thought that anyone would be sticking their fingers in there. Perhaps though, I will switch the burnt bulb to the empty socket next time I go to change one.

[akwifeandmomma]

Whoa, I have 15 just in my main living area (entry, living, dining, kitchen).

Hallway - 1
Bath - 7
Schoolroom - 2
Boys' room - 4 (ceiling fan)

So, just upstairs... 29

Master - 1
Bath - 5
Hall - 2
DD bedroom - 2
Office - 2

And 12 more downstairs for a total of 41. Whoa.

[Poddi]

How do you even count the ones in chandeliers? We have 3 of them and I think there are at least 30 light bulbs in them. I usually don't replace the burnt out ones very often. Our house lights come in clusters, there are almost no single ones. Each light switch seems to be for at least 3. Each bathroom has 8 plus the heat lamp. I don't think I really want to count the light bulbs.

OK, I actually tried to count, had to do all sorts of math. I missed some lights outside and the ones in the storage and closets and had to redo it a couple times. The grand total so far is 100 light bulbs, inside and outside the house. This doesn't include any lamps.

[blissful_maia]

Wow! Everyone has so many lights. We have:

9 inside lights
3 lamps
2 outdoor lights

So 11 built-in lights and 3 lamps. Total = 14! Our house is pretty large and has 2 living rooms, large kitchen, 3 bedrooms, bathroom etc. I never thought we didn't have enough lights and we live in Canada where it's pretty dark right now.

[oneKnight]

13 including the porch lights, all are either CFL or regular fluorescent. Small house

2 back porch
1 front porch
2 regular fluorescent in the kitchen
1 recessed in the kitchen over the sink
1 in the living room (fixture holds 3 but I only put 1 in)
1 in the hallway
1 in the closet
2 regular fluorescent in the bathroom
2 one for each bedroom

[MidnightCommando]

Not at home but I'm sure there are too many to count. DP is an electrician so he put all his skills to work and put in a crazy lighting system when we built our house. If they were normal lights I'd be worried but they are all CFL, LED, and low-voltage styles. I love love love our lights!