By Debbie Ray
During an early morning baby feeding, I realized that the night light was out, but there was still enough light to navigate through the house by. Why? The array of clocks, displays, and power on indicators looked like Christmas tree lights on our entertainment center. Though the TV was off and some of the items were in sleep mode, they still required power to show me that twinkling little light in the night. And guess what, all that power costs me money!
What can you do in the face of so many electronics sipping power? Here’s a few tips to start:
1. Turn off the TV when not in use. If in doubt, or in a house with young children, use your pre-programmed timer to turn off the TV after a set time.
2. Use a smart power strip for your entertainment center and your home office. When you turn off the TV, it will automatically turn off the DVD player, VCR, DVR and all the other three letter acronyms connected to the TV. When you turn off the computer, it can be set up to turn off the printer/copier, router, and other peripherals as well.
3. Put a surge protector on the same smart power strips for your entertainment center and computer power strip. All it takes one surge from a lightening strike or electrical problem to fry an expensive set of electronics.
4. Replacing all your main light bulbs with LEDs is becoming mandatory. Don’t forget to replace the night lights with LED night lights, too. They’re reported to use only a few cents (as compared to several dollars) of electricity per year. The added benefit is that if a child’s run around toy smashes into it, there is no bulb to break.
5. Are there lights that you leave on in your house for light at critical junctures? If so, install night lights there.
6. Make certain that if there are items that run throughout the night that you turn them off when you wake up. This can range from children’s entertainment devices next to the crib to humidifiers to extra air filters used in an adult’s bedroom.
7. Make certain that your computer is set to go to sleep after a short period without use. Even better, turn it off when done for the night. This has the added benefit of making sure you don’t wake up to work on it when you have a flash of insight late at night.
8. Do you have a TV in your room? Don’t watch it while going to sleep. Otherwise you may leave it on late into the night, gobbling power while it is not even providing entertainment. Better yet, take it out of the bed room all together which has been shown to improve the quality of sleep we can all enjoy.
If you just use a few of the tips above you will see a difference in your power bill and if you used them all, just imagine how surprised you’ll be with those end of year savings. Take the time to really keep track of them and I’m sure you’ll be very happy with the results. Saving power will save you money in the long run. Just look out and about and you can find places to save power and money all over.
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