Who is the ENERGY SAVER in your family?

[DAKA]

In "our" house I am the one who goes around shutting off lights,  re-adjusting the thermostat, not letting the water run, etc.

[Walt Longmire]

Me. I'm the only one here. I keep the wood stove going all winter. Lights off. Doors closed. I have even learned to dump the hot water from cooking into something where I can let it cool releasing the heat and moisture into the house before dumping it down the drain. No need to add extra heat to the septic.

[gwalchmai]

Mrs. G's father was an EE at TVA. To my knowledge she has never turned off a light. 

[Cougar_ml]

What's a thermostat?

 

I guess I'm the "energy saver" as I haven't been bothering to start the woodstove, just putting on more layers.

[Batesmotel]

We both do. I’m better about lights than she is. She is a little better about the thermostat than I am. Easier to bundle up in the winter and open windows in summer than throw money away. 

[Walt Longmire]

HEY!!!!! You born in a barn?????

[Walt Longmire]

Back when my kids still lived at home, someone didn't get the front door closed properly. During the (winter) night the wind blew it open. I woke up in the wee hours to a chilly house. Got up to check things and saw the door open. WTF???? There was snow on the landing and all the way down the bottom section of stairs, and in a pile in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. In the snow in that hallway were footprints where the oldest had gotten up, walked barefoot through the snow, turned up the thermostat, and hiked back through the snow to his bed. I still shake my head over that one.

[gwalchmai]

My parents were Depression kids (Dad 1923, Mom 1930). They grew up not having anything. Nobody they knew had anything. By the time we could walk my sister and I were conditioned to hit the light switch as we left a room. Our thermostat was always set to 60 at night, 65 during the day. Dad checked his mileage at every fillup, and always knew the cheapest gas stations. I inherited every bit of it from him, but my sister got none. It's all good, though.

[Mrs.Cicero]

I am the one always going around turning down the thermostat, shutting off the lights, turning off everything that's been left on.  I swear everyone else in this family thinks we are made of money or they were born in a barn.  And I'm real tired of hearing, "It'll cost more energy to turn it back on than to just leave it on!" every time I turn off another light.  Also, if you are cold, put on a wool hat, a sweater, wear wool socks and slippers and shut up, because I am sweating to death in a t-shirt and flannel pants and no socks (yea, hot flash!). Really I'd be quite happy to keep the thermostat at 64, but everyone else hates that so I compromise on 67, and the dear man sneaks around turning it up to 70 when I'm here and 72 when I'm not.  And then all summer he wants it set for 65 because he's too hot.  WTF.  I like it to be 80F in the summer.  That's the perfect temperature.  64 in winter and 80 in summer.  Yes, I'm crazy like that.

[Cougar_ml]

3 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

HEY!!!!! You born in a barn?????

Born, no.

Raised in one, yes.

Still live in it too.

[jmohme]

My wife is really good at policing the thermostat, but I am not certain she is aware that light switches have an off position.

[railfancwb]

I used to be 68 winter and 72 summer and that was that. Age has made me more sensitive to temperatures so those have moved closer to 70 year round.

I keep a few lights on 24/7 so I can see my way to/from bathroom etc. They are low wattage twisty fluorescent in a couple locations and the rest are LEDs. 

[Batesmotel]

5 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

HEY!!!!! You born in a barn?????

No, no, no.

It was SMACK! Were you raised in a barn!  

[LostinTexas]

Just LostWife and me. She is as bad or worse than me, so both.

[LostinTexas]

5 hours ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

I am the one always going around turning down the thermostat, shutting off the lights, turning off everything that's been left on.  I swear everyone else in this family thinks we are made of money or they were born in a barn.  And I'm real tired of hearing, "It'll cost more energy to turn it back on than to just leave it on!" every time I turn off another light.  Also, if you are cold, put on a wool hat, a sweater, wear wool socks and slippers and shut up, because I am sweating to death in a t-shirt and flannel pants and no socks (yea, hot flash!). Really I'd be quite happy to keep the thermostat at 64, but everyone else hates that so I compromise on 67, and the dear man sneaks around turning it up to 70 when I'm here and 72 when I'm not.  And then all summer he wants it set for 65 because he's too hot.  WTF.  I like it to be 80F in the summer.  That's the perfect temperature.  64 in winter and 80 in summer.  Yes, I'm crazy like that.

Ah, I remember those. All too well. Finally got LostWife to get on estradol (sp) and it settled a lot. Hers were rapid fire, and severe. She would burn my hands touching her at night.

We hang around 68 in winter and 78 in summer. Folks think we are nutz, but walking in and out of a 78 degree house is much more comfortable when it is hovering around 100 degrees with near that humidity.

YMMV

[Walt Longmire]

2 hours ago, railfancwb said:

I used to be 68 winter and 72 summer and that was that. Age has made me more sensitive to temperatures so those have moved closer to 70 year round.

I keep a few lights on 24/7 so I can see my way to/from bathroom etc. They are low wattage twisty fluorescent in a couple locations and the rest are LEDs. 

I have led night lights. 2 kinds. One is on dim mode, and will brighten when the power goes out. The other style light up when the smoke detector goes off. It's nice to be able to go to the bathroom or kitchen at night without turning any lights on. 

[jfost11]

That would be me. My wife will come to bed and leave the living room lights and tv on, and bedroom lights on. The kids have left faucets running steady several times each and leave their bedroom and bathroom lights on almost every day when they leave.

Need to make a quick tinkle? Forget that 7 watt LED bulb in the center of the ceiling. They need to have the 40 watt fluorescent over the mirror cut on for hours. I finally got an LED version for that but, it's still twice the wattage of the regular bulbs. After I get them on the school bus in the mornings, I usually start at one end of the house and find 20-25 light bulbs to turn off. Today was a light day. I only found 15.

If I ever catch them coming out of the basement, I know they've probably left two light fixtures on down there along with the two light fixtures in the stairwell, and all the doors left open. They've left it like that in the winter for 2-3 days at a time on more than one occasion before I came home and noticed.

[Mrs.Cicero]

55 minutes ago, jfost11 said:

That would be me. My wife will come to bed and leave the living room lights and tv on, and bedroom lights on. The kids have left faucets running steady several times each and leave their bedroom and bathroom lights on almost every day when they leave.

Need to make a quick tinkle? Forget that 7 watt LED bulb in the center of the ceiling. They need to have the 40 watt fluorescent over the mirror cut on for hours. I finally got an LED version for that but, it's still twice the wattage of the regular bulbs. After I get them on the school bus in the mornings, I usually start at one end of the house and find 20-25 light bulbs to turn off. Today was a light day. I only found 15.

If I ever catch them coming out of the basement, I know they've probably left two light fixtures on down there along with the two light fixtures in the stairwell, and all the doors left open. They've left it like that in the winter for 2-3 days at a time on more than one occasion before I came home and noticed.

Heh.  They'll learn when they have to start paying their own electric bill - I did!

[LostinTexas]

13 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

I have led night lights. 2 kinds. One is on dim mode, and will brighten when the power goes out. The other style light up when the smoke detector goes off. It's nice to be able to go to the bathroom or kitchen at night without turning any lights on. 

A couple of strategically placed LED's will light far more than most believe. Then again, after reading this and that forum, most folks believe they live in a cave and have ZERO understanding of night vision.

[DAKA]

4 hours ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Heh.  They'll learn when they have to start paying their own electric bill - I did!

YEP   The TURN AROUND is amazing when THEY pay the bills   (Hmmmmm it was for me )

[minervadoe]

My Italian grandfather used to walk around the house and turn off the lights in unoccupied rooms. 

Now, I routinely channel Nonno when I shut off lights and loudly exclaim, "Shut 'A the light.'

[kerbie18]

Leaving the lights on used to cost a hell of a lot more in the old days. Given the fact that my home runs almost entirely on LED lights, leaving a light on becomes pretty insignificant. To some extent, the same thing applies to my climate control. I have an extremely efficient heat pump and insulation. I also live in a generally small and efficient home to begin with. There isn't much more I can do to save electricity.

[Huaco Kid]

The 600W halogen floor lamp in my office is more for a heater in the winter,  but it lights up the room.  BOY does it light up the room.

[Huaco Kid]

"WELL, PUT ON A DAMN SWEATER!!"

~Dad