Do you leave a light on?

[Tiny]

On my walk this evening at about 8:00pm  I noticed a lot of houses that were completely dark - even though I know people live there.   I live in a densely populated area - and walking on the sidewalk you can easily see 3 sides of the house and you move past it.   

I found that kind of odd - since I don't like to come home to a dark house (coming home to a light makes me feel like I'm coming 'home' like someone (my cats) are waiting for me.  I grew up with a house that always had a light on until the last person was home safe and sound.).  I have a living room light on a timer so it's always on in the evenings.   I also have a handful of nightlights (mostly to thwart my cats and their evil plans to kill me - you know, so I don't step on them or trip over them if I get up in the night).

My house isn't all aglow with light when I'm not home - the light in the living room and you can tell that there is some sort of low light in a bedroom and the bathroom (you can tell kitchens/bathrooms on the houses in my area because of the position/size OR if they are glass blocks).   

So, it makes me wonder:  is your house completely dark when you aren't there  or do you leave a light on?  Why or how does it make you feel (or do you not even think about it)?

 

[Shooby]

We shut the lights off. Just a habit I guess.

[Peace Of Mind]

We leave lights on.  One or two inside and we have up lighting outside and we put our pendant and coach lights on.  We leave some on until 2:00 a.m. and the coach and pendants on until morning so nobody knows if we are coming or going.  And it's pretty!  

[msventoux]

If I'm leaving during the morning I turn off the lights whether or not I'll be back before dark.  If I get home and go out in the evening for a quick errand I'll probably leave the lights on.  My house isn't ever completely dark though.  The porch lights are always on outside, and inside there's a lighted fish tank, clocks/displays, etc. that give off enough light that I can see well enough when I come home to get in the door and set my stuff down.

I suppose living alone that it would freak me out a bit to come home to a completely dark house if I didn't have my animals.  As it is, they hear me come home and one or more is always peeking out the window as I walk up the outside steps.  The dogs know they're not supposed to accost me as soon as I get in the door, so when they hear the key in the lock I can hear their nails clattering as they run to their beds and pretend they've been good all day (even if the house has been torn apart and some poor pillow met an untimely demise).  The cats are usually waiting on the cat tree and start talking to me as soon as I come in.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I have the little "night-lights" that you plug into sockets - so there's always a minimal amount of light in the kitchen or bedroom when it's dark outside and I'm away from the house.

I also leave the outdoor light on if I'm away from home and not going to return until after dark. If I'm going to be away from home for more than 24 hrs, I have lights on timers to turn on/off at hours when it's going to be dark or nearly dark (early morning/evening) and programmed to shut off at (normal) bed-time, etc. It gives the illusion of the house being occupied, even if not there.

[Spellbound454]

I routinely shut the curtains and leave the hall light on to make it look like someone is home.

Its to deter burglars......who will be on the prowl, looking for a house with no-one in.

If I go away... the lights will be on timers.

[marvholly]

I have3 been in my house since 1976. In ALL that time we/I have always had the light over the kitchen table on 24/7. My bedroom reading light is generally on 15-20 hr/day. The office light 7-10 hr.

since I rarely go out in the evenings I do NOT advertixe that fact by turning on my porch light.

[truthbound]

None of my neighbors lights are on. But all of their houses have been foreclosed on.

[giramomma]

We have two lights on a timers. We used to have one, but then our next door neighbors had an attempted break in. So, we put our front light in a timer. We also have  a motion sensor light in the garage and in the back of our house.

Sometimes DH will have lights on for me when I get home. We put the outside lights on for my students when the arrive/leave for lessons.

We also hold very odd hours. Because of our habits, it rarely looks like no one is home. If I can use the bus, I do. If DH can bike, he does. Which means usually there is one car in the garage at all times.

There is only one day a week where no one is home for the work day.

Our neighbor kid mows our lawn when we are gone. When we are short on time, we ask him to mow while we are here. I'm glad we do that, so the lawn mowing isn't a signal that we aren't home.

[milee]

Dark. Partly because it's economical and partly because I like the dark at night. The outside lights are motion detectors, so come on when we approach.

We live in an older neighborhood with huge, nice trees on the water. The nights are very pretty.  I'm not fond of my neighbors who want to light up the outside of their house and yard like it's an airport runway.  I'm not talking about the ones that leave a light or two on in their house, I'm talking about the ones that have tens of thousands of dollars in outside landscape lighting that they keep blazing at all hours.  Ironically, it always seems to be the ones that don't ever go outside or enjoy being outside anyway.  But the extra Klieg lights make sitting out on the porch or the boat at night less enjoyable for the rest of us.  I'm pretty sure the guy with the new Starter Castle wants to make sure the Astronauts can see his house from space. 

[Jake 48]

Outside carriage lights and flag pole on a timer, spotlights on motion sensors, a few plug in night lights, the light over the stove on and a single candle style light next to our blue star flag in the front window. DW and I promised DS1 we would always leave a light on for him while serving in the Navy.

[Deleted]

I leave a light on for the dog when I leave in the dark in the morning. It's usually just a lamp by the sofa. She goes back to "bed," falling asleep on a rug by DH's bed.

If we leave at night, we usually leave the same lamp on for her. I think she would freak out if her people weren't home, it was totally dark, and she couldn't find her way. She pees when she gets frightened . . . or excited or bored or whatever makes cocker spaniels pee. 

I do annoy DH because I was brought up that if you walk out of a room, you turn off the lights even if you will be back in a few minutes.  So I'm constantly turning off lights throughout the house

[NoNamePerson]

My son thinks I was a bat in a another life. Not an energy saving thing with me - heck maybe I am a bat in this life.  I do have a sensor light on front porch that comes on when I get out of my car at night. 

[Deleted]

It's dark here.  I never leave lights on when I'm away and have been known to turn around and go back to shut one off if I notice as I'm driving away.  It doesn't feel weird to me to come home to a dark house.  I don't want to feel like someone is waiting for me!     I even have most lights off when I'm home.  I don't see the point of having it on in rooms I'm not using and watch TV in the dark. 

I do have a yard light that is supposed to be on a dawn to dusk sensor, but it's not working properly and only turns on with the switch.  I try to remember to turn it on at night when I'm out doing chores, but it isn't always and of course, if I'm away and don't get back before dark, it's not on. 

I like the dark and I live out in the country where the stars are very bright because they're not obscured by all kinds of light pollution. 

[NoNamePerson]

Ahhh minnesotapaintlady a fellow bat person 

[sarcasticgirl]

We live in a condo, so it isn't quite the same. If it is dark when we leave or will be dark when we get home, we leave a light on for the dog.

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[Deleted]

I like darkness or dim light at night, especially if I'm alone, I feel safe and hidden.  For some reason having a room totally flooded with light at night makes me feel kind of exposed, maybe partially because windows turn black and reflective, and I can't see out but other could see in.  

I grew up in the countryside though, so I'd go jogging at night under trees around the path, feeling my way with my feet and memory.

[Deleted]

Now, my KIDS both need night lights.  Youngest likes his closet light on and the door partially open and older son leaves the hall light on in the lower level.  I'm trying to break them of the habit, I'll often shut them off after they've fallen asleep, but so far, not much luck there.

They do both shut all lights off when leaving a room. 

[Malarky]

I try to keep the lights off if we aren't using them.  The rest of the family, not so much.  The last one in routinely "forgets" to shut off the porch light.  

A couple of months ago the bulb in the streetlight diagonally across the street was replaced with an LED bulb.  It generates so much light that often when I get up in the morning, I curse my kids for leaving the lights on downstairs.  Then I realize it's just the streetlight. 

Plus we have enough electronics plugged in that you can't go two feet without some kind of beacon to light your way.

[sesfw]

Both bathrooms have dusk to dawn LED night lights, and we have three inside lights on timers (all LEDs). Our carriage and landscape lights (LEDs) are dusk to dawn. Our town doesn't have street lights.

DH doesn't turn lights off so we have LEDs through-out the home.

[Nazgul Girl]

   My husband has some very poor eyesight, especially in "low contrast" situations, so there are nightlights in both bathrooms, and we keep a light on in the living room.   I don't want him to fall and have a terrible accident.  

[iono1]

I never leave lights on when I'm not home. I used to laugh when my parents put the living room light on when they left the house-it looked more unoccupied than when someone was home & watching TV with the lights off.

I enter through the garage & there's a light switch as soon as I open the kitchen door from the garage-not entering a dark house as soon as I flip the switch.

[zibazinski]

Heck yeah. I come home in the dark.

[Blonde Granny]

I have night lights in every room of the house. A couple of them are emergency lights that come on if there is a power outage, and we have a lot of those here. I also keep a small lamp in the kitchen on every night that has a 15W bulb in it, and more night nightlights in my sewing room and hallway in from the garage.

As we age, our vision is not what it was when young, and I already have 2 neighbors who fell at night after getting out of bed and tripping over something and both broke an arm. With luck that's not going to happen to me. A well placed night light can & will save medical bills.

[teen persuasion]

We are out in the country, so it is dark here at night.  Good for star gazing but bad for spotting critters when pulling in the driveway, so we turn on outside lights if we expect anyone or will be returning after dark.  Unfortunately, our light is like MPL's, only it has progressed to the stage of only working when it feels like it, so we need to replace it.  Short term substitute is the inside porch light, not quite enough for our long driveway.

We turn on select room lights, since our quirky old house has light switches in inconvenient places (entry hall light is inside the tv room, good for turning off after exiting the entry anyways).  I'm usually the one to turn out all the lights when I go to bed, but I'll leave lights on if one of the kids is out late.  They can turn them out on their way to bed.

[zibazinski]

Our subdivision has very pretty gas lights. Nice to look at but no real light so at night, it's dark in there. I always turn my brights on once I'm in there to see better. You can tell big time who isn't home. I don't like that.

[TheHaitian]

We try to leave one light on if we know we are coming home after dark. Sometimes we don't remember or did not intend to come home after dark so home is totally dark.

We don't leave any lights on at night, but we have like 20 plug ins that give enough light if you are going to the bathroom or downstairs at night without having to turn on a light. I can literally navigate through my whole house without turning on a light thanks to the plug ins and do so often if I wake up and need a glass of water or just need to use the bathroom.

[Deleted]

Usually we leave a light on.

I forget to turn the porch lights on and off so we don't use them to often.

[Anne_in_VA]

We turn lights off during the day when we're not home, but if we're going to be coming home after dark I'll leave a light in the living room on just so it looks as if someone is home. If I know I won't be home until late, then I leave the light over the stove on too.

After our recent break-in, I've gotten paranoid about leaving the house dark when we're not home.

[Artemis Windsong]

I have a mental gap and leave lights on at night when they should be off.  It rotates.  Usually the computer room then the basement then the dining room.  Oh well.  Sometimes the garage.  In the winter, the front porch light after I get the paper.

I have night lights in bathrooms and kitchen. 

If I'm out at night, I like my garage lights on when I come home.  The garage door opener lights don't stay on long enough.

DH detests entering a house with all the lights off.  The kitchen is usually left on.

I have three solar lights in the backyard.  They are enjoyed by the neighbors.  For a long time they didn't know what they were.  One year it snowed; and they glowed under the snow. 
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One year in a foreign country, there were tons of bugs in our room.  No mosquito nets.  We knew they would be landing on us at night creating a nightmarish sleep.  We left the bathroom light on and closed the door.  They went under the door and stayed in the bathroom.  The bathroom was a crawling mess or a nice science project.