This sounds like a sensible plan. The only reason I haven't adopted something like this is because my electric bills used to be so low ($23-$28/mo), so I focused on saving money elsewhere.
How long would it take to recoup the cost of purchasing an LED bulb with a lower energy bill? I've always used traditional incandescent bulbs.
Well, that depends on how often you use the light fixture that you bought the LED for. So, I bought an LED for a lamp that had a light that didn't need to be replaced. However, we use that lamp almost everyday and often for more than 1 or 2 hours. In fact, we've forgotten to turn it off more times than I care to admit. The box for the LED said that the savings would happen over a year if I used it for 3hrs/day. We use it for more than 3 hrs/day during the week so I have no doubt that its savings will kick in sooner than the box projected.
I've cut my energy usage down even more. On 2/26 my usage was 9.96kWh which is a personal best. I think my refrigerator is eating up energy because I work all day and then some days go to the gym/run errands/go out with friends/etc and I don't get home until 9 or 10. And I usually go to bed soon after that so I'm having trouble figuring out what's using 15kwh in a day when I'm not even home. I've been wondering if I should buy a new refrigerator. That would definitely take a couple of years to recoup costs.
What you have to do is look at a couple of things:
1. What things do you use that use electricity? How much electricity do they use per hour? You can find a lot of lists for appliance energy use online.
2. Are you leaving a lot of things plugged in when you're at work?
3. How much do you want to cut your energy use by? What is eating up your energy right now?
I think people always think it's their lights but from everything I've read, it's your big appliances like your refrigerator, dryer, etc.