# Do you routinely Turn off lights at Home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618 "2025-04-04T14:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/41 "2025-04-04T18:51:16Z")
I turn off the lights if I’m not going to be in the a room for a while. Not if it’s just for a minute or two, I was _also_ taught not to turn lights on and off too much as it burns them out faster and/or consumes more power as they initially start up. I don’t think that’s true of more modern lights but it’s a habit by now. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/42 "2025-04-04T18:54:35Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > In case anyone doesn’t know, a fan (ceiling, table or floor) doesn’t cool an empty room. > > Under certain circumstances it will. If we can substitute a car for a room for the purposes of an example, the Prius used a solar panel powered fan to keep the interior of the car cool. While an extreme example, it’s not unrelatable to a room with some heating situtation going on where the fan can expel the heat. Sure if you’re expelling the warm air from the room (or car in your case), you’ll cool the room. But I was thinking of those conference rooms at one workplace, with a floor fan blowing back and forth in a closed room. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/43 "2025-04-04T19:00:00Z")
I got stationers sticky dots and put on mine. I think I got glow in the dark ones, because I still them. ---
**Author:** ![Surfing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Surfing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surfing)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/44 "2025-04-04T19:12:51Z")
Similar and love having a smart house. Pretty much turn off the lights when leaving a room and won’t be back for a while. Also, at bedtime say “turn off all the lights” to get any that were accidently left on. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/45 "2025-04-04T19:18:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I think a majority of folk grossly underestimate their ability to see in low light conditions. My night vision is much much worse than it was when I was younger. Also, i find bright lights to be cheerful. So I’ll often turn on the lights in my bathroom when i can see just fine, because i like having the lights on. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/46 "2025-04-04T19:27:34Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Poll needs option “and I also turn off everyone else’s goddamn lights.” Agreed. My partner is the complete opposite to me (we don’t have kids). She is always leaving them on and it drives me irrationally mad. She will walk into the kitchen (which is next to our lounge and without a door), turning the light on, then walk out again and leave it on. I will get up and switch it off. Ten minutes later, back in the kitchen, light back on. Out again. Up I get… and repeat. I think I have a touch of OCD about it but even so… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/47 "2025-04-04T19:51:58Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > She will walk into the kitchen (which is next to our lounge and without a door), turning the light on, then walk out again and leave it on. I will get up and switch it off. Ten minutes later, back in the kitchen, light back on. Out again. Up I get… and repeat. If the kitchen light is CFL, you’re shortening the light’s lifespan. > **[When to Turn Off Your Lights](https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/when-turn-your-lights)** > > The cost effectiveness of when to turn off lights depends on the type of lights and the price of electricity. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/48 "2025-04-04T20:17:58Z")
I think they’re LEDs (they’re spotlights embedded in the ceiling). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/49 "2025-04-04T20:24:09Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I never realized how much ambient light I ignored when I lived in urban/semi-urban areas. But when you move to deep rural country as I did 20-odd years ago, it becomes immediately obvious how little light it takes to stick out like a sore thumb and to light a space well enough to move silently through it without bumping into stuff. I lived in the country for 20 years, and as you said, it’s DARK out there at night. There were no city lights except far away on the distant horizon. No houses nearby. Just. Plain. Dark. Then I moved into town and I remember thinking on the first night, _“Good grief! It never gets dark here at night!”_ I had forgotten after two decades in the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/50 "2025-04-04T20:57:17Z")
**allthegood** eventually finishes rolling around on the floor, gasps for breath a few times, then around the leftover guffaws manages to answer on my behalf, “No, he does not. He most certainly does not!” ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/51 "2025-04-04T21:03:20Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I put tiny squares of black electrical tape over all the damn electrical outlets with GFIs, of which this house seems to have dozens. Damn - I thought my wife was the only one! She actually bought white adhesive dots… ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/52 "2025-04-04T21:04:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Then I moved into town and I remember thinking on the first night, _“Good grief! It never gets dark here at night!”_ I had forgotten after two decades in the middle of nowhere. It’s funny how we adapt to different environments, isn’t it? I’m sure if I moved back into town, I’d feel exactly as you did when you shifted! * * * The other night just before turning in, I glanced out the large window adjacent to my usual butt-in-chair position. Through the dense trees, I saw two familiar lanterns belonging to my neighbor across the road. They are on all the time. We can’t see each other’s houses, but we can kind of see each other’s outdoor lighting. Then 75 feet to the left of those familiar lights and directly across from my window, I saw a dim light shining through the trees I’d never seen before. It dimmed and brightened, almost like someone smoking. There is nothing in that spot that should have created any light. It’s not a spot where anyone would naturally idle. I remembered my dog had alarm-barked in that direction when I took him for a pee before bed. Hmmm. I found it unsettling. I watched it for nearly 2 hours before finally deciding it was something innocuous, if unidentifiable. Had a look around the spot up on the road the next day and found nothing to explain it. I still have no idea what it was. It hasn’t reappeared. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Damn - I thought my wife was the only one! LOL!! No, she’s not – and I’m glad to learn I’m not, either! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/53 "2025-04-04T21:07:50Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > **allthegood** eventually finishes rolling around on the floor, gasps for breath a few times, then around the leftover guffaws manages to answer on my behalf, “No, he does not. He most certainly does not!” Who or what the fuck is “allthegood”? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/54 "2025-04-04T21:10:48Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I found it unsettling. I watched it for nearly 2 hours before finally deciding it was something innocuous, if unidentifiable. > > Had a look around the spot up on the road the next day and found nothing to explain it. I still have no idea what it was. It hasn’t reappeared. If it was ETs and they’ve come to take over, I wish they would just get on with it and put us out of our misery. I for one welcome our alien overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/55 "2025-04-04T21:13:56Z")
Yeah, we’re not that lucky. * * * One reason I was hyper-vigilant over it was that just a few weeks ago, someone knocked my very sturdy locking mailbox off its post, then drilled out the lock. In all this time, this was a first. There was no mail in it to steal, so their efforts were futile. But no other boxes on the road were vandalized – just mine. And I found the drilling-out of the lock disturbing. Hard to not feel a bit targeted. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/56 "2025-04-04T21:18:35Z")
I have a couple of desk lamps in the living room that stay on 24/7. They both run 20W equivalent LED bulbs so their power drain is miniscule (well, about 9 watts). Most other lights get turned off when nobody is in the room. This is more for ambiance and out of long-standing habit than power saving concerns. Both my teenage sons have ceiling fans that run 24/7 and those two fans likely draw more power than all the lights in the house would combined. All the lights in the house, with the exception of the heat lamps in the master bathroom ceiling and the front yard lights, use 75w LEDs. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/57 "2025-04-04T21:26:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Then I moved into town and I remember thinking on the first night, _“Good grief! It never gets dark here at night!”_ I had forgotten after two decades in the middle of nowhere. My first apartment faced a very busy street; a designated state route, in fact. The street lights – on the other side of the street – provided so much light that I didn’t bother replacing the bulb in my fridge. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/58 "2025-04-04T21:30:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Who or what the fuck is “allthegood”? My companion/partner. She doesn’t post here particularly often but that’s her screen name. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/59 "2025-04-04T21:30:51Z")
Did you call the police? That is very disturbing. My mail box is so far from the house I doubt anyone would know what house it belongs to, but still. We don’t have much delivered to it. I have a box in town. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618/60 "2025-04-04T21:32:00Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > Who or what the fuck is “allthegood”? > > My companion/partner. She doesn’t post here particularly often but that’s her screen name. Thank you for the explanation but did you really think that would be clear to everyone? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-turn-off-lights-at-home/1016618.md?page=4)