Outside lights

[Night Elf]

At night when you go to bed, do you leave the lights on outside the house or turn them off? DH turns them off and I feel that it's not good to put our house into the dark like that. Am I wrong?

[Lolly]

We only turn ours on if we are outside or expecting someone. At night, they are always off when we go to bed. The last year of fil's life, (brain tumor with some interesting side effects) he became obsessed with no lights being left on. Even the ones on the neighbor's house across the street. Oh the rants we listened to...But, I learned to make sure all the lights were off! Anyway, just a personal preference as to leave on or turn off. Saves money to turn them off. Probably a little bit safer to leave them on. 

[Pawz4me]

We have plenty of street lights here, so no.  When we lived more rural we still didn't leave an outside light on at night.  We only turned one on if we were expecting someone.

[Chelle in MO]

We turn them off when everyone is in for the night. I doubt they would deter criminals if left on, and I don't want to pay for the electricity!  But I can understand how they would contribute to an increased sense of safety.

[Danestress]

We have motion activated lights in key areas.

[EmilyGF]

I think they should be turned off. It is healthier for your hormones to not have unnatural lights about, as well as better for birds. 

 

Get motion activated lights instead.

 

You can learn more at http://darksky.org/.

[Ellie]

At night when you go to bed, do you leave the lights on outside the house or turn them off? DH turns them off and I feel that it's not good to put our house into the dark like that. Am I wrong?

 

Our front and back porch lights are on timers so that they come on when it gets dark and go off when it gets light. So, yes, our outside lights are on all the time. We also have a living room light on a timer.

 

We don't want our friends to have to walk up to a dark front door, And we don't want anyone who is unsavory to be able to lurk around the house in the darkness. o_0

[Chris in VA]

After an attempted break-in, the church installed some lights on the side of our home (we are in the woods, no neighbors, but right off the main drag). Sometimes I remember to put them on. We have one motion-activated light in the back, also.

I don't leave porch lights or lights by the front door on.

[twoxcell]

We leave our porch light on at night. Too many things stolen off of our porch over the years. The light is one of those energy efficient lights and not very bright. It doesn't shine into our bedrooms.

[Sdel]

Off or I can't sleep at night.  Same for *every* interior light.  But then, I really need to darken my bedroom windows because the neighbors have an awfully annoying utility pole type light that drives me batty.  And the full moon is too much light too....

 

As for the interior lights....every night I go around the house either covering up the blinking lights on the electronics or turning them off.  DH gets an elbow to wake him up in order to have him turn his phone screen side down or the blinking light wakes me up.

 

Even the house lights that theoretically shouldn't bother me, I'll wake up in the middle of the night and instinctively just know they are on....and they usually are.

 

Stefanie

[happi duck]

We have neighbors that leave on lights and I hate that it is never dark.

 

Our next door neighbor will forget their lights on sometimes and they light up our yard and a bedroom. I'm glad they normally turn them off.

 

We use motion sensors and make a point that they don't shine into other's windows.

[hornblower]

Our outside lights at the front of the house are on dawn to dusk. I don't like to have the house & driveway dark.

The side & back have small lights on dawn to dusk & big motion activated flood lights - which are mostly tripped by coyotes, skunks and racoons ...

[candicane]

We have a back porch light and one by the door that we leave on all night. We live pretty much in the middle of nowhere with only maybe two or three houses near us. Aside from that, it's also extremely dark outside otherwise since those are the only two we got aside from the bright security light over by the garden sheds. My dad usually turns them on around 7/8PM then back off around that same time in the morning.

 

In our old house, we had the lights on a timer that would make them come on on their own. I miss those. They were also brighter, and made things easier to see in the dark. These ones we have now don't shine very bright for our yard which is rather dangerous to walk in even in the daylight.

[regentrude]

I turn them off. The outside lights are only on if I expect guests, so that they can find their way.

No need to waste energy on light pollution.

 

I hate it when the neighbors leave theirs on accidentally. The street lamp is bad enough.

[Wheres Toto]

We have motion activated lights on the street-side of our house where the driveway is.  They get activated by deer, bears, and the wind way more often than by visitors.

 

Our main entrance is actually at the back of the house.  We only have that light on if we are expecting someone or everyone isn't home.

We have no street lights at all in our neighborhood and the neighbors are not close so when it's dark, it is extremely dark.    It's a very quiet, off the beaten path neighborhood though, so I never thought unsafe in the dark (unless we don't realize we'll be home late and I'm fumbling for keys in the dark).

[KungFuPanda]

We turn ours off at night. It's never been an issue. We do have a motion sensor light out there.

[Mrs Mungo]

I generally leave them off unless there is a reason to turn them on (expecting guests, kids on a walk with the dog, etc). But, I have a very bright street lamp right across the street.

[Farrar]

Our back ones are motion activated. Our street is really well lit though. I could read out there right now in the dark if I wanted to, it's so well lit. So I don't feel like it's especially dire.

[Loowit]

We leave our front porch light on at night, as do most of our neighbors.  Our back porch light in on a sensor.  At some point we may get motion sensor lights in front as well, but DH never has time to install them and I don't have the motivation to do it myself.

[StephanieZ]

We have big new motion sensor lights that only come on in the dark and with motion, and they are LED, so super energy efficient. Those are always active. They can (and do) light up our entire driveway, entire front and back walks . . . (3 lights)

 

We also have 11 new coach lights, each taking 2 60watt bulbs. So, about 1300 watts of outdoor "accent" lighting. Those are only going on when we are expecting company. Once I switch out the incandescent bulbs for LED, I'll probably leave them on a lot more. 

There are also timers that you can replace your switch with. 

 

If I didn't have the motion lights, I'd like to put in energy efficient lights at our entry ways for safety and for ease of entry when you come home in the dark, so I could leave them on nearly all the time.

[Ewe Mama]

We turn them off when everyone is home for the night. I don't worry about security too much...the children have booby trapped virtually every part of our yard with toys, freshly dug holes, etc. We do have motion sensor lights on all sides of our house, but they rarely go on.

[Stratford]

On at dusk, off in the morning.  We live in an unlit neighborhood (no street lights) and our HOA asks that everyone keep outdoor lights on all night.  So we do (so compliant!)  It's still pretty dark on our street, though.  

[Tess in the Burbs]

Dh leaves the front door/street light on. We have a lamp at the street. Without it, it would be soooo dark and there is a trail that begins across the street...so I am glad it is lit up. I hate the light coming in, but we would be dark and burglar friendly without it.

[MomtoCandJ]

We turn ours off at night, our neighbors have a mercury light that lights up where we park the cars and the front porch

[milovany]

We have neighbors that leave on lights and I hate that it is never dark.

 

This.  We live on 2 acres in the country and our neighbor on one side has one of those big, high lights out near his garage, next to the field, that stays on all night. I can't see it from our bedroom but the kids can.  I really like pitch black dark for sleep. 

 

[EKS]

Everything off here, but we live in the middle of the woods.  We do have a switch in our bedroom that turns on some floodlights in our backyard.  

[Mrs Mungo]

I really like pitch black dark for sleep.

I wear a sleep mask at night. I have this one:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=145507&catid=182937&aid=338666&aparam=145507&kpid=145507&CAWELAID=120142990000028897&CAGPSPN=pla&kpid=145507

[Night Elf]

There are no streetlights on my street so with no house lights, it's just scary dark outside. Our neighbors don't turn on lights either. The house across the street has a small light next to their front door. That's all I can see from my house. Maybe it just bothers me because I'm afraid of the dark. An irrational fear perhaps, but real nonetheless.

[jrn]

We have a street light right in front of our house and motion sensors on all the outer lights.  We only turn on the porch lights when we are expecting someone.

[almondbutterandjelly]

We live in a suburban neighborhood.  We hadn't had our outside lights on in years at night, and then just recently, some mischievous teenager type trouble.  (One night, they kicked our car and dented it (found a footprint) and the next night, they repeatedly rang our doorbell at 2:18 in the morning.)  We fixed our garage light and it is now on dusk to dawn, plus we now keep our porch light on at night.  And the mischievous teenagers aren't bothering our house anymore.  Amazing what a deterrent a little light can be.

[Tap]

We used to turn them on around dark and off when we went to bed, so the kids running in and out of the house in the evening would have a lit driveway and porch. Once we ha had our cars broke in to a few times, I started leaving them on all night long.  I turn them off as soon as I am awake in the morning, whether or not it is daylight out.    We live in the PNW, so at this time of year that means they get turned on around 530pm or so and off around 6 or 7 when I get up.

 

 

[milovany]

 I hate pulling up to a dark house, especially if I have things to unload from the car.

 

Our lights are on if we're not at home.  I leave them on until we go to bed, then I turn them off. 

 

 

I wear a sleep mask at night. I have this one:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=145507&catid=182937&aid=338666&aparam=145507&kpid=145507&CAWELAID=120142990000028897&CAGPSPN=pla&kpid=145507

 

 

Thank you, I'll take a look.  I already wear earplugs to bed ~ I think adding a sleep mask would really take some getting used to!  Besides, it IS super dark on my side of the house.  I'll show the link to the kids who live on Mr. Light's side of the house. 

 

[TammyinTN]

We have a spotlight for our flag that kicks on at dark and off in the morning ....it's plenty of light for the outside of our house. 

[lllll]

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[Lizzie in Ma]

We turn them off, I hate lights on at night.  My neighbor always leaves his on and it makes me crazy becuase it is bright!

[linders]

Lights off unless there is some compelling reason for them to be on.

 

Recent compelling reason: our dog wanted to watch the opossum in the yard at night, so DH left the lights on  :huh:

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Front porch light stays on (doesn't shine into bedrooms) and side light (over the garage and side fence--we're on a corner lot) is on a motion sensor. All of our neighbors leave some kind of outside light on, so I don't like being the only house that's completely dark! And we have been having break-ins in our neighborhood and the surrounding areas more often than I'm comfortable with lately, so I gladly pay the extra electricity cost. We do have streetlights, but not lots, and they're not that bright. They also dim periodically, so they don't do much to light up our corner. 

[Happy]

We have a not too tall post lamp near the front door that stays on all night. Not too bright, but enough you can see to move around. We do keep a light on at the end of the garage. We have several cars parked on the driveway--we find they get messed with less when a light is on all night.

 

I love light--pretty outdoor landscape lights or sweet little lamps tucked into corners of the house inside. My house is never completely dark.

 

I must have some ambient light for sleeping....so it's not flat, black dark if I wake up. Something about super dark reminds me of a coffin. A little light goes a long way...

[Slartibartfast]

I wear a sleep mask at night. I have this one:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=145507&catid=182937&aid=338666&aparam=145507&kpid=145507&CAWELAID=120142990000028897&CAGPSPN=pla&kpid=145507

 

Dd and I like to use sleep masks as well, we particularly like them during car rides. *L

[milovany]

What happens is sometimes like yesterday I leave the house in the morning and don't come home until night. I wouldn't want to turn the light on for the whole day. It was dark because the dumb motion censor light only stays on a few seconds, if it even registers me driving by it. And the other light near where I park requires someone with a really tall ladder to fix which we haven't taken care of yet. I also live in an area that is not the safest so more lights = better for our neighborhood.

 

 

Ah, got it. 

[Dmmetler]

We have a motion sensor light on the back of the house that kept coming on. We couldn't figure out what was causing it until DD caught the culprit-a fat tree frog who had realized that turning the light on attracted bugs, and would hop in front of the sensors when it turned off.

 

We started leaving the back porch light on for him after thatðŸ¸ðŸ˜†

[xixstar]

Off when were done going in and out for the night. No street lights, thankfully. And glad my neighbors also turn theirs off -- one neighbor had one that shown directly into my window and I was tempted to adjust it while she was at work. Finally just asked her to adjust it, easier solution. :)

[edelweiss]

We have automatic timers that turn ours on at dusk.  They stay on all night and turn off in the morning.  Our neighbors do the same, but our houses aren't close together.  Also, we all sleep upstairs, so there is not an issue with lights shining in bedroom windows.  

 

I'm surprised to hear that so many people turn theirs off at night.  We've never done that (even when I lived with my parents).  It just seems safer to keep them on.

[Shellydon]

Off!!! Nothing is more annoying than a neighbor that leaves lights on all night.   If you are very worried about crime, install motion dectors.

[happi duck]

In our neighborhood some people have VERY bright front porch lights on motion sensors. Going for a walk at night feels like breaking out of prison because you're walking along and suddenly BOOM bright light...then another twenty yards and BOOM!

 

I feel bad if we cause anyone to think something's wrong but I do wish they'd all adjust the sensors.

[flyingiguana]

We don't even have outside lights.  Well, we do, but my husband took out the bulbs and put in plugs so he can plug stuff in outside.  We've got bright street lights, so I don't see the point.

 

But out neighbors have motion detector lights.  Ick.  I'm in bed -- 4 AM, mind you -- and one neighbor pulls his car out of the garage, so they all start going off.  It's like aliens are landing out there.  Even the heavy shades I have on the bedroom window don't tone it down much.

[flyingiguana]

In our neighborhood some people have VERY bright front porch lights on motion sensors. Going for a walk at night feels like breaking out of prison because you're walking along and suddenly BOOM bright light...then another twenty yards and BOOM!

 

Myself, I feel like a cat.  Every watched a cat set off a motion sensor light?  They look up with this face that says "How did you know I was here?"

And that must happen to them all down the alley

[J-rap]

We turn ours off, but then we do keep a hallway light on all night, which can be seen from the outside.  So, the house never looks completely dark.

[Kalmia]

I probably have the weirdest reason for turning off the porch lights. I turn them off for the moths. They are attracted and "trapped" by the light. Then they become easy prey for toads and spiders (leaving a mess for you to clean up) and are unable to continue on with the business of life feeding and breeding.

[lllll]

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