We switched to GE LED light bulbs and saved money and energy!I promised I’d do a follow up on our attempts to find out what the energy hog was that caused our power bill to double. We took a look at our lighting and realized that while most of our bulbs had been upgraded to compact fluorescent lighting, the lights that were use the most have a combined wattage high enough to light a small town.

To combat this power pig, we decided to switch out the CFL’s for the new LED lights that are hitting the market. Unfortunately, we were only able to find three that fit so we were only able to replace 3 of the 6 bulbs in our most problem fixtures. (Read: Home Light Bulb Inventory – Can GE Light Bulbs Save Energy and Money? and Lighting Legislation 2012: GE Light Bulbs Save Energy #CBias to learn how we figured out which were our worst offending fixtures.)

We also reminded the kids to use task lighting whenever possible instead of lighting the entire room (thus eliminating the use of 2, 3-bulb ceiling fixtures) and to turn off lights in any room when they leave. When we got our next bill we thought we had it covered. Our power was back to normal! Yes, we did a little happy dance!

But we’ve been watching our account online and it’s rising again. We need to get back to our GE Lighting bulb upgrade and we need to figure out what else in the house is causing the problem.

Plan of Attack to Lower our Energy Bill

Perhaps we’ve been complaining about the bill too much because we received a wireless energy monitor from our youngest son for Christmas. With it we’ve become a bit obsessed with the current amount of power being used. We can’t help ourselves! We’ve been turning on/off every appliance, light switch, etc., in the house to find out why the new monitor shows our costs go from 11 cents an hour to 77 cents in seconds. I know that doesn’t sound like much money, but there are approximately 43,000 minutes a month, so you can see how that adds up.

After we finish our bulb replacements we’re going to have to look at upgrading our washer and dryer. Yes, they still work, but they are so inefficient they’re costing us money to run beyond what it would cost to replace them.

We're serious about lowering energy costs - replacing outdated appliances and old light bulbs

Incandescent Lighting Costs You Big

Want to know what your incandescent light bulbs are costing you? Visit the energy saving calculator and find out what changing to energy efficient lighting can do for your bottom line! GE light bulbs are an easy way to start saving money and if you aren’t ready to switch to LED, try the GE efficient soft white bulbs, they’re the closest to the old bulbs many of you are still burning.

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I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and GE Lighting #CBias #SocialFabric – All opinions are my own.