Leave a Light On

Well, we always knew that the bathroom posts wouldn't last forever.  Fortunately we still have other things to talk about, though posts are obviously going back their normal, irregular frequency.

This Christmas, my "overdone" decorations made me realize something--I really liked having a light on when I came home at night. You see the Christmas lights were all on timers because I knew I would be too lazy in the evenings to turn them on. It was of course nice to have the soft glow of the tree. But even better--the white twinkling lights near the door made it so much easier to get in, avoid stepping on cats, and get my bags down without having to fumble for a switch. We decided a year round timed light might make sense.

Even better, we managed to snag a free GE LED bulb last month (a promo for the energy initiatives we completed last spring). They usually retail for about $30, way more than we would ever spend on a bulb, even accounting for the electricity costs. The 40 watt equivalent was too low for most of our lighting needs, so when we realized we wanted a light in our doorway, we realized that we had the perfect bulb for the task.

The bulb was about the same size as a regular incandescent (except with the additional wings on the side) but was much heavier--weighing in at almost 125 grams, compared to the almost weightlessness of a regular bulb or CFL.

The light is  a little cooler than "warm" CFLs or standard incandescents, but warmer than "daylight" CFLs. In it's cute (and cheap) Target lamp, it's the perfect light to come home to. Plus being LED, it apparently should only cost about $5 annually for 3 hours a day, which is more than we're running it. A good addition to our energy efficient lighting.