The Easiest Way To Lower Your Electric Bill

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Most American households still have all of their light sockets filled with old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs and have yet to convert them over to CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs). If you’re still using traditional light bulbs to light your home, you’re throwing away money every time you flip on a light switch. In short, Replace all of your bulbs NOW with CFLs, whether they’re burnt out or not.

I did some major shopping recently and decided to pick up a few packages of CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) to test them out. I know they save money, but I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of fluorescent lights. I was happily wrong. Not only am I able to cut my electric bill dramatically, but from a difference these new light bulbs (at least the type with a cover around the swirly bulb) look almost identifiable to regular bulbs and have the same soft white light. The only difference – and a benefit – is that they produce a lot less heat.

I’ll use my own situation as an example. I replaced every light bulb in my apartment (a total of 22 bulbs) with CFLs. Almost all of the old bulbs were 60 or 75 watt bulbs; the new bulbs all used 20 watts. We kept track of our light bulb usage over a week or so and discovered that each bulb was on for an average of three and a half hours a day; in other words, an average day sees 77 hours of total light bulb usage, thus we’re saving about 3.45 kilowatt hours a day, or 104 kilowatt hours a month. A year ago, prices were around $0.10 per kilowatt hour. Now, they are closer to $.20 per kilowatt hour in some markets, the light bulb replacement saves us $20+ a month, every month or $240/year.

You may have to spend $40 or so to get enough bulbs to replace all of the old incandescent ones in your home, and you’ll have to discard your old bulbs, but it will only take a few months to make that money back. If you don’t feel comfortable pulling bulbs out of your sockets, you can just replace them as they go out, but it only takes a month or two to make up. Even better: CFLs have five times the life of old incandescent, so you won’t have to replace them for years.

So, what’s the game plan? All you need to do is either look online or go to your local hardware store and buy a couple jumbo packs of CFLs. I recommend using the next higher “watt equivalency” that the packages tell you; for example, CFLs with a 60 watt “equivalence” aren’t quite as bright as real CFLs, so get the 75 watt “equivalence” bulbs – these use just fifteen watts, so you’re still saving 45 watts per hour per bulb. I personally recommend two types GE’s 20 Watt bulb which are a 75 watt “equivalent” (meaning you should probably replace your 60 watt bulbs with them – they’ll be just a bit brighter than the old 60 watts) – these are great when the bulbs are not visible. They light well and they quietly make serious savings on our monthly energy bill.

Amazon has great prices, but check around as prices always change.

If you prefer the bulbs with an external over the spiral bulb, you can check out the alternatives here.

The Bottom Line
With energy prices rising, this is no longer just a concept. So take five minutes, get some bulbs, and replace your old lighting today!