How Much Can You Save On Holiday Lighting?

Xcel Energy offers up some numbers in a press release as to the savings when choosing LED lights versus the old conventional holiday lights. They say a household can save from $1 to over $70 per holiday season.

If you were to use a strand of 100 LED mini-lights for 5 hours day you'll realize a savings of about 50 cents a month per strand compared to the incandescent bulbs. They go on to state that 25 LED standard C7 lights used for five hours will save over a $1.50 per month. And of course the more strands you use with LED lighting the more the savings. If you add in a number of years the savings of course go up.

Xcel also advises you to discard or recycle any old lights that look to be in poor shape. Using them just isn't worth the risk. Plug in your lights before stringing them so you can check for dead bulbs. Don't plug in too many light strings together.

I might add it helps to plan ahead as well. A number of years ago my late father in law spent so much time stringing lights on a tall tree. When he had finished he realized he'd put them on upside down. In other words the plug in for the lights as at the top of the tree instead of the bottom.

Have a safe and fun time decorating for Christmas.