Do you switch off your lights when you leave the room?

[Starryskiesinthesky]

Sorry if this has been done before but I havent seen it. Our house is quite open plan and so if the lights are left off it looks really dark and cold. So I put lights on in rooms we arent in. But, I am aware there is an energy crisis which made me wonder what other people do!

Yes of course! Why wouldn't you?

Only at night when I go to bed! I hate a dark house.

We do something similar in our house. To be honest, I don't think leaving on a light bulb on for an hour or two is going to make much difference to the amount of electricity we use.

Why does it matter if a room you aren’t in looks dark and cold?
Who is seeing it if the room is empty?

No, if I’m leaving a room permanently I don’t turn the light off. I will probably leave them on if I’m just running to another room to grab something but I generally turn lights off in the rooms no one is in.

Yes of course. Why does it matter if it looks dark where you aren't?

Only if I'm not coming back to it for more than 5-10 minutes. We have 2 lamps in our lounge. Me and DH are not going to switch them off every time we pop to the kitchen/loo/bedroom etc. Couldn't be arsed.

Because, presumably, she can see it from where she is.

Yea, always turn them off when I leave the room. The kids take a bit of encouragement to do it reliably though!

I leave a low lamp on in a couple if I’m in and out. I also leave the kitchen light on all night as I live in and old cottage and ugh, it’s almost too embarrassing to say it - I have a huge slug problem that I can’t get to the bottom of.

Open plan house here and I turn them all off unless I'm in the room. I find I actually use less lights here than our previous house which wasnt open plan because the light can travel further here with less walls.

Who sits gazing into the dark rather than at what they are doing? My kitchen is currently dark, I can see it's dark but I'm not staring at it thinking of how dark it looks.

Yes I always do

Yes I do too.

To each their own.

I don't sit gazing into the dark, but I do leave a couple of lights on in rooms I'm not in, because otherwise the house feels big and cold.

Lights only on in the room if people are in it. That was a rule in our house even before the energy crisis! Think of the planet peeps

@PauliesWalnuts I am intrigued by this, we also live in an old house, down a step into the kitchen which sticks out into the garden. Slugs keep coming in over night and eating the cat's biscuits! You can tell by the trails. Does leaving the light on stop them? I've tried copper tape etc but I can't work out how they get in, can't use poison because of cat and DS.
If you've solved this you're my new hero

Of course I turn them off

I definitely don’t leave lights on if I’m not in the room. Apart from the living room if I’ve gone for a shower or to wash up for example

Yes, was brought up to do it in the 80's.

Always turn them off, unless only leaving the room for a few minutes.

Our kitchen light only used 1p an hour (according to the smart metre) but still turn it off when it's not being used.

I turn them off- I didn’t used to. DM says our house is like Blackpool illuminations 😂and that I leave a trail of light! Trying to save energy now, think of the planet and it’s future.

It seems quite mixed! Its hard to describe but our living room is open plan to the hall so when you go past the hall it looks really dark. We also have no curtains so it looks dark and creepy I guess. I just like the look better with the side lights on. I also leave the light in the hall on all night - did it when the children were young in case they needed to get up in the light and now I am used to it so the house seems too dark if no lights are on.

Do all the posters who ‘switch off every time they leave the room’ just have big lights/wall switches?
We switch off rooms like bathrooms/landing/hall etc that have ‘big’ lights but the sitting room has lamps and I’m not fannying about with them if I’m nipping up for a wee etc.

I could use a smart plug but we have lamps plugged in everywhere (it’s a running family joke that the big light in the sitting room is only to be switched on if you’ve lost something/after giving birth in there/seeing if Father Christmas has been).

Plus there’s normally loads of people in and outing so rooms never unoccupied for long.
I do, however, bellow ‘shut the door behind you’ to keep the heat in.

I think you have summed it up @Anonymous48 - otherwise the house feels big and cold.

We would put the sitting room lamp on if working at the dining table, so we'd be there to turn it off when finished. Or if watching a film I might put main light off and lamp on but then it's still only one light when we go up to bed. That's the only lamp I own.