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!

If we are in the house is pretty much in darkness, just lamps for a cosy feel, used to have a lamp on in kitchen but that’s now off after we leave after dinner and main light used if we want a drink etc. dh installed all LED bulbs.

if we are out it’s lit up like a Christmas tree (or maybe not as we’ve not been out since the energy crisis loomed ☹️)

Op ,my hall is dark, I have a table lamp out there that’s on all evening and fairy lights wrapped round a tall plant in a corner. It keeps it warm looking and nice to enter.

I switch off the lights on other rooms I’m not in though but I leave the under cupboard lights on in the kitchen.

I leave the hall light on once it starts going dark as it has no outside windows & is like going down a coal mine even in the day.

I do most of the time unless I’m planning to go back to that room within a few minutes after leaving. I did hear that it takes more energy to turn lights on/ off than to run them for so I’m try not to do it too often (even though that might not be true anymore).

@RewildingAmbridge I'm sure she just means she doesn't want to step on them.

Yes, unless I'm just popping to the toilet or to make a drink etc.

I try to switch off lights in rooms we aren't using, but sometimes I'll be thinking that I want to go back in there in a few minutes and just leave the light on. DP is so used to switching off lights automatically that sometimes he does it when I'm still sitting in the bloody room🤣

Our living room is at the centre of the house with all other rooms off it, but no doors just doorways.

Only light on is the lamp in the living room.

I can see the kitchen and it's all in darkness, ditto the landing upstairs (stairs are open plan in the living room).

Yes, to be honest I sit in a dark room sometimes 😂 I just like the feel of a dark room, like my senses get a break from staring at a computer screen all day or being outside in the community in daylight.

I understand I am however a complete weirdo who enjoys sitting in the dark 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

We have a fairly dim lamp on in the hallway on dark evenings. There are no windows in the hallway so it lights our way to the kitchen / bathroom without having to switch on the (2) ceiling lights every time any of us go anywhere.

Probably evens out in energy Vs switching 2 ceiling bulbs on and off again half a dozen or more times a night.

If we have friends round I leave the under cupboard lights on in the kitchen too, so it's more welcoming if they want to pop through and help themselves to a drink. Don't bother for us.

Sort of similar to us

We never use the 'big light', in fact Im in the living room now and cant remember the last time I put it on.

I have 5 lamps in here, two are on dark sensors so they come on when dark and go off in the morning.

Similar with the hall and bedrooms

This autumn I stopped putting the lamps on in the hall and bedroom upstairs while Im downstairs and am unhappy with how dark, empty and cold it looks.

In the past Ive been amazed when popping round to collect parcels for example that neighbours have taken in (I get a parcel most days) and I ring at the door the house is in pitch blackness, and then someone comes to the door and I think where on earth in the house are you when its plunged in darkness?

I hate going upstairs and its dark and finding my way into the loo.

Dont know if I will get used to it.

I only light the rooms we're in

Yes - Alexa controls all of them so it's just habit to tell her to turn them on and off as needed.

My office room needs the light on for me in the day. If I'm popping out to the shop I will turn it off.

Our kitchen/dinner has about 8 lighting options and I work my way through them to low level after dinner. 😂

Living room we only ever use the side lamp really. Once it's past 10.30 I tend to turn that off (and kitchen bar a neon sign) as I like the dark before I go to bed.

I used to turn a bedroom lamp in early if I went in there once it was dark, I think it looks nice & cosy to go into. But I've stopped doing that now

bathroom & hallway light just turned on and off as needed.

lounge & kitchen have a square 'arch' way, so I used to leave the kitchen lights on, but it has multi light which are not at all 'economical' so I need to get out the lantern & fairy lights. When the kitchen is redone I'm planning on some kick board lights & under cabinet lights which can stay on.

I leave the lounge ones on if if Judy going to fetch something, get a drink, go to the loo, but I'd turn it off if I was going to do something that would take a while.

@Starryskiesinthesky can you look at getting some kick board/under counter/fairy lights?

Nope, lights on all over the shop in our house.

I don't mind walking around in darkness. I often walk from sitting room to my bedroom on the top floor without putting lights on in between or the other way in the morning. I listen out to make sure the cats are running ahead of me! I grew up in a house where I was scared to be home alone without every light on, never saw a ghost, just a feeling. This house feels so safe that I enjoy the darkness.

Yeah I'm also a bit confused about this. I out the big lights off when I leave the room but if I'm in the living room I don't go round turning lamps off before I go through to make the tea, and then again when I go to wash up! Put them off when I'm actually leaving the room to go to bed...

If you’re using LED bulbs then the power usage is insanely minimal so don’t worry about it.

Lights go off if not in a room or going to be returning for at least a few minutes. We have a small LED lamp on in the living room now. All other lights in the house off. If nipping for a wee or making a brew then no it doesn’t get turned off. Low electric users!

I agree with the PP this house feels very safe and non scary even in the dark. Wouldn’t leave lights on in rooms we aren’t using but that’s how I was brought up!

I think it is easier if you are not open plan - why would you leave a light switched on behind a closed door? But, it does make the place look dark otherwise. I guess there is also the thing about you dont have lights on just to see - you have them so that the place looks nice so at the moment I have one side light on upstairs but also a lit up tree thing. I dont need it to see but it makes the place look nicer and warmer.

I have to say it is extremely odd to sit in a room in the dark.

No

@RewildingAmbridge it doesn’t stop them completely but it has cut it down - they definitely don’t like the light. I live in a weavers cottage built in 1850, so there’s no slab, no wall cavity. I think they come in through air bricks but I have seen one come in under a double glazed door before now. I think I have an air brick behind the kitchen cabinets and they definitely can squeeze in between the worktop and the cupboard carcass into the kitchen. My other half has bought me some copper mesh a bit like a Brillo, and my next step is to push that in through the air bricks. After that I’m going to get a nemetodes subscription and water it into the garden every two weeks from next spring. My little lane is plagued with them for some reason. A friend’s theory is that it’s because we all have small patio gardens and they live and lay their eggs under the flagstones. If they were in an open garden they might be more susceptible to natural predators but under the patio they are fairly safe. I hate hate hate them.

Yes, turned off in all other rooms we’re not occupying. The exception might be the kitchen if we’re coming and going between there and the sitting room.

Bad for the environment to leave them on all the time.