How I got my girlfriend to turn the lights off

[The Money Monk]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

There is a particular back porch light that my girlfriend turns on when she lets the dogs into the back yard and ALWAYS leaves it on, no matter what. No matter what bribes and threats I can conjure up, her brain is only capable of flipping this switch in one direction.

A few nights ago I walked outside in the morning to discover that once again the light had been on ALL NIGHT! Stealing my financial gains, yo! It was the last straw.

As I rained down blows upon her, I thought there must be a better way. 

After some brief research I found and installed this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001XCWLX8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001XCWLX8&linkCode=as2&tag=post054-20&linkId=5DVVBNCFSGCXXJWD

With this timed switch there is no way the light can be on for more than an hour, and even that is if she turns it all the way. It may take a while for the savings to pay for the $15 light switch, but at least order has been restored and I will no longer have to give her a flying scissor kick of rage every time I find out it has been left on for hours and hours.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

[The Money Monk]

One thing that I forgot to mention is that I wish the light had a feature to turn it off before the timer ran out. It doesn't, so you have to just let it run it's course.

For that reason it is probably not good for lights that you turn on and off a lot, but this particular light kept getting left on for hours and hours, and since it was outside it would sometimes take me a long time before I noticed that she had left it on. So something to consider if you are in a similar situation

[GizmoTX]

The other alternative is a motion detector switch. With this you have hands free operation plus automatic shutoff & it provides a security function if it's an outside light. We have them installed in various closets & hallways as well.

In some rooms we have dimmer switches, which also save on electricity & prolong bulb life.

[Jack]

Clearly, the better solution is to move to an area with higher crime so that you want to leave the outdoor lights on all the time to deter burglars.

(I actually do this. It works at least as well as my tiger-repelling rock, so far...)

The other alternative is a motion detector switch... it provides a security function if it's an outside light.

For that to work on an outdoor light, the switch would also need to be outdoors. (Or you'd need for the motion sensor to be at the fixture instead.)

[The Money Monk]

For that to work on an outdoor light, the switch would also need to be outdoors. (Or you'd need for the motion sensor to be at the fixture instead.)

Yeah exactly. The switch is inside so I would have to replace the entire exterior fixture, which would be much more expensive. Also, the light is on the side of the house a fair bit away from the back door, so we would have to walk a ways through the dark before it would probably turn on.
I like the timed switch solution so far.

[GizmoTX]

Yes, for outside you add the sensor to the fixture. We installed one at my MIL's back porch to help her speed unlocking the door to get inside & so she could see who was at the door before opening it.

[Chranstronaut]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

The other alternative is a motion detector switch... We have them installed in various closets & hallways as well.

This is a good idea, never thought to put these inside before.  This might be annoying if you had pets though, haha!

[The Money Monk]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

I wasn't being facetious. It does seem that women love to do that. I didn't even say that men don't. But it seems to me that women do. Funny that you get mad about it and then immediately admit that you do it.

And no need to bother with lame 'shaming language'. Something is either true or false, whether you consider it 'sexist' is irrelevant. If its true, I'm not going to shy away from saying it just because its considered PC thought-crime. And if its false then you can simply prove it wrong, no need to call it anything else.

Also, I don't suggest using lights as a way to defeat intruders. I prefer my Kimber .45 and my 90lb pitbull/mastiff mix. Both allow me to sleep soundly - with all the lights off.

[Timmmy]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

The other alternative is a motion detector switch... We have them installed in various closets & hallways as well.

This is a good idea, never thought to put these inside before.  This might be annoying if you had pets though, haha!

And the lights shine a protective coating on you? 

I like to keep the lights off for the same reason.  In a dark house, it's advantage resident.  It's also hard to see in to a dark house if it's dark outside and conversely hard to see out to spot that creeper in your backyard if the lights are on. 

[The Money Monk]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

The other alternative is a motion detector switch... We have them installed in various closets & hallways as well.

This is a good idea, never thought to put these inside before.  This might be annoying if you had pets though, haha!

And the lights shine a protective coating on you? 

I like to keep the lights off for the same reason.  In a dark house, it's advantage resident.  It's also hard to see in to a dark house if it's dark outside and conversely hard to see out to spot that creeper in your backyard if the lights are on.

Yes I have an incredibly bright flashlight by my gun. If for some reason the perp doesn't get mauled, then I can creep around my house pretty well in the dark (i know it a lot better than an intruder would) then blast them in the face with a 200 lumen spotlight. Blinding them, and allowing me to make sure I hit them and not my DVD rack or something.

[falcondisruptor]

I'll prove you false.  I'm a woman and I don't leave lights on.  So, "women" don't like to do this.

Also, I follow my husband (a man) around the house flipping the lights off after him saying "save the world". 

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

I wasn't being facetious. It does seem that women love to do that. I didn't even say that men don't. But it seems to me that women do. Funny that you get mad about it and then immediately admit that you do it.

And no need to bother with lame 'shaming language'. Something is either true or false, whether you consider it 'sexist' is irrelevant. If its true, I'm not going to shy away from saying it just because its considered PC thought-crime. And if its false then you can simply prove it wrong, no need to call it anything else.

Also, I don't suggest using lights as a way to defeat intruders. I prefer my Kimber .45 and my 90lb pitbull/mastiff mix. Both allow me to sleep soundly - with all the lights off.

[The Money Monk]

I'll prove you false.  I'm a woman and I don't leave lights on.  So, "women" don't like to do this.

Also, I follow my husband (a man) around the house flipping the lights off after him saying "save the world". 

You have an interesting definition of 'prove'. Please don't tell me you are a scientist.

Anyway, you can pretend I was referring to every single living female in the world if it makes you feel less butthurt, but no logical human would infer that from my statement.

If I had said "dogs seem to love bacon"  Finding one dog that doesn't wouldn't be proving that statement wrong. Especially since it's just an anecdotal observation.

[gt7152b]

Wait until you have kids. I started charging my son a quarter every time he left a light on. He's much better at it now. My biggest pet peeve is when someone turns on an exterior light during the middle of the freaking day. I also need to use the trial and error method of finding the right switch sometimes but I flip back any switches that fail to give me the right light.

[The Money Monk]

Wait until you have kids. I started charging my son a quarter every time he left a light on. He's much better at it now. My biggest pet peeve is when someone turns on an exterior light during the middle of the freaking day. I also need to use the trial and error method of finding the right switch sometimes but I flip back any switches that fail to give me the right light.

Now THAT'S an idea!

I could have been rich!

[rocksinmyhead]

I'll prove you false.  I'm a woman and I don't leave lights on.  So, "women" don't like to do this.

Also, I follow my husband (a man) around the house flipping the lights off after him saying "save the world". 

haha, us too! well, I leave the back porch light on because we live in a shitty neighborhood and I feel it is a good idea from a safety perspective. he on the other hand leaves lights and fans on in random rooms all the time for no reason. oh well, I just turn them off, and our house is small so it's not like they go unnoticed for hours.

anyway, Money Monk, the timer switch seems like an awesome solution to this problem, but I did think the "women" comment was unnecessary and your defensiveness about it comes off as super angry and douche-y... not sure why.

in my relationship what usually happens when one person continuously does something that drives the other nuts, is that we'll nag each other about it until the nagging is so fucking annoying that you just figure out a way to fix your own habits. like, I used to always leave toothpaste in the sink, and he always badgered me about it and I realized I actually was being a gross and inconsiderate person to live with, so I left myself a post-it on the bathroom mirror saying "RINSE YOUR TOOTHPASTE" and broke the habit in about a week.

also, in a similar lighting-related hack that continues to please me months later... we live in a rental house and for the last two years have NOT been able to find a switch that turns on the front porch lights. it's so weird. and due to the aforementioned sketchy neighborhood and the fact that we do like to use our front porch (so I guess it's not THAT sketchy), we really wanted some light. my genius bf bought some of those round cafe lights (you know, like Christmas lights but more Pinterest-y) and stapled them up around the inside of the porch... kind of hard to describe but they really don't look ghetto, they look cool and give off a TON of light. the lingering annoyance was that we had to turn them on/off by unplugging an extension cord right outside our front door... but then he got this wireless outlet remote thing (I think it was off Amazon, I don't remember how much it cost but less than $25... which may be an unnecessary expense, but I really can't overstate the joy this thing has brought me) so we can turn them on and off from INSIDE THE HOUSE!!!

it's basically the best. I imagine your timer switch giving you the same joy.

[2ndTimer]

This is a great idea.  My arm is getting tired from hitting the Hub.  We are planning to add a timer to the hot water heater so we might as well add once to the porch light too.

[The Money Monk]

This is a great idea.  My arm is getting tired from hitting the Hub.  We are planning to add a timer to the hot water heater so we might as well add once to the porch light too.

Yeah the hot water heater timer is one I have been meaning to do as well, Just haven't gotten around to it yet. That can save a lot more money than a light being on, so I need to just do it.

[NoraLenderbee]

I'll prove you false.  I'm a woman and I don't leave lights on.  So, "women" don't like to do this.

Also, I follow my husband (a man) around the house flipping the lights off after him saying "save the world". 

haha, us too! well, I leave the back porch light on because we live in a shitty neighborhood and I feel it is a good idea from a safety perspective. he on the other hand leaves lights and fans on in random rooms all the time for no reason. oh well, I just turn them off, and our house is small so it's not like they go unnoticed for hours.

Sisters!  Or maybe our husbands are all brothers.

anyway, Money Monk, the timer switch seems like an awesome solution to this problem, but I did think the "women" comment was unnecessary and your defensiveness about it comes off as super angry and douche-y... not sure why.

Maybe because the defensiveness came with insulting language (thoughtcrime, butthurt, "don't tell me you're a scientist"). And the poster went from "This is TRUE--yours is just one datapoint" to "hey, it was just an anecdotal observation

Something is either true or false, whether you consider it 'sexist' is irrelevant. If its true, I'm not going to shy away from saying it just because its considered PC thought-crime. And if its false then you can simply prove it wrong, no need to call it anything else.

You have an interesting definition of 'prove'. Please don't tell me you are a scientist.

Anyway, you can pretend I was referring to every single living female in the world if it makes you feel less butthurt, but no logical human would infer that from my statement.

If I had said "dogs seem to love bacon"  Finding one dog that doesn't wouldn't be proving that statement wrong. Especially since it's just an anecdotal observation.

[AJ]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

I wasn't being facetious. It does seem that women love to do that. I didn't even say that men don't. But it seems to me that women do.

My husband is a man, all my roommates are women. Myself (a woman) and the roomies like to keep the lights off to save resources, my husband likes ALL the lights to be on for ambiance. IME, it seems like men like to leave lights on and women do not.

[Kansas Beachbum]

Ah, man...I thought this thread was going to be about something else :-)

[The Money Monk]

Ah, man...I thought this thread was going to be about something else :-)

haha nice

[swallowtail]

For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day. Especially when they are not in that room, or even in the house.

I know you are being facetious, but I have to call you out on this sexist phrasing.  Also, many women (and men?) leave lights on around the house because it makes them feel safer (consciously or not).  I do it because it's cheap mental peace and getting attacked in your own home happens to people.  Kind of a lot.

I wasn't being facetious. It does seem that women love to do that. I didn't even say that men don't. But it seems to me that women do.

My husband is a man, all my roommates are women. Myself (a woman) and the roomies like to keep the lights off to save resources, my husband likes ALL the lights to be on for ambiance. IME, it seems like men like to leave lights on and women do not.

+1

As the lady of the house, I keep the lights off.  The gentleman of the house seems totally oblivious to the fact he leaves them on everywhere.  I think there are probably characteristics that indicate this behavior a lot more strongly than sex.  Attributing what is subtly a wasteful / thoughtless behavior onto women as a group  (who are stereotyped that way in mass culture anyway) is sexist and offensive.  Would it trip off your keyboard so easily if you were to say something negative about a religious group or race?

Signed,
Butthurt

[retired?]

No, but now you have me thinking.  I feel your pain.

My wife leaves lights on in any room she goes in.  Also, the back porch light when she lets the dog out.  And, often leaves a TV on.  Her excuse "I was coming right back" or "I was listening to it".  Often it turns out to be 30 min plus.  "oops, I forgot".  We've been married 17 years.  All I can think is that it is a matter of how her parents ran the household. 

She picked it up from them, i.e. that it doesn't matter.  My parents paid me and my siblings a penny or nickel for each light we found left on and then turned off.

Hell, my wife can't even close a door all the way.  Doesn't tighten bottle lids.  I could go on and on.  I hate to say it, but I think some of it also has to do with the fact that historically I have been the bread-winner.  You care more about each little amount when you worked for it.

[The Money Monk]

Maybe because the defensiveness came with insulting language (thoughtcrime, butthurt, "don't tell me you're a scientist"). And the poster went from "This is TRUE--yours is just one datapoint" to "hey, it was just an anecdotal observation

No, I am definitely not angry, and I am only defensive in the sense that I do defend what I say and don't back down simply because others don't like it. Its interesting that you would claim I am being defensive, when I simply made a comment about my experience that isn't even negative. Why are you insulted I have found that women like to keep the lights on more than I do?

Since you seem very interested in pedantry, feel free to re-read what I wrote and by all means point out what is contradictory. 

I originally said "For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day."

Note that it does not say all women, and it doesn't say more than men. It doesn't say much at all except that in my experience women love to leave the lights on. It isn't even a negative except when compared to my personal desire to have the lights off.

Then I stated "And no need to bother with lame 'shaming language'. Something is either true or false, whether you consider it 'sexist' is irrelevant."

So unless you are going to claim that my personal experience has not been that women love leaving the lights on, there is no contradiction in anything I said. I never claimed it was anything other than an anecdotal observation. And that does not contradict the fact that a statement is either true or false.

So what exactly are you implying with your post? That I lied about my anecdotal experience?

It's clear that you, and several other posters initially misinterpreted my original post and assumed I was making some claim about 100% of human female.

[cavewoman]

But ... how did you do it?
"How I got my girlfriend to turn the lights off"

Does the timer work, or were you just floating the idea?

Or was it through the beating?

Or did you guys just breakup?  She left you because you are kind of annoying when you argue things?

[sobezen]

@ The Money Monk: Installing exterior motion sensors plus timers work. I also recommend installing interior sensor dimmer switches that turn off too. I actually keep most room dark after a specific time just to rest my eyes. Also I use to make a game out of it. How can I navigate my home in the complete dark? :) Made me feel all stealthy like a ninja. Anyways, the thing is a blackout is bound it happen sooner or later. And in the event of the next major earthquake or fire, I for one want to be confident I can walk or crawl in my own home without being afraid of the dark. In the past I volunteered to train in  neighborhood emergency response, one skill we encouraged was to get comfortable walking/crawling/patting your way around in the dark. Odds are in an emergency you won't have access to a flashlight unless you keep one next to your bed, along with a go bag, and sturdy shoes, etc. By the way those were also suggested tips, considering we are in earthquake territory and all. :)  Cheers!

[Bob W]

I have the opposite problem.  My wife actually turns the lights out way too much.   I can't leave a room that I will be walking back into within 1 minute without the light magically going off.

She also doesn't seem to understand it is polite to turn the porch light on when you are expecting your spouse home.   I also can't leave the living room without the thermostat being turned down by 4 degrees in the winter.

That being said,   your title is completely misleading in that you actually didn't get your girlfriend to turn the light off but simple used an electrical device.  This is like saying that you got your girlfriend to have more sex with you by you now using a sex toy.

***sarcasm warning***


So here is the deal.  Sit down the aforementioned friend and have a heart to heart talk with her.   

Start it off by saying,  "Honey,  when you don't turn the lights off after using them it makes me "feel" you don't love me."   "you do love me, don't your sugar pants."   

If after a week, if the friend is still leaving the lights on, flip the switch on this relationship and run like hell.

PS.  If your really do find a method to modify someone's light switch behavior,  please feel free to share with us as long as it cost less than $15.   

[sheepstache]

Maybe because the defensiveness came with insulting language (thoughtcrime, butthurt, "don't tell me you're a scientist"). And the poster went from "This is TRUE--yours is just one datapoint" to "hey, it was just an anecdotal observation

No, I am definitely not angry, and I am only defensive in the sense that I do defend what I say and don't back down simply because others don't like it. Its interesting that you would claim I am being defensive, when I simply made a comment about my experience that isn't even negative. Why are you insulted I have found that women like to keep the lights on more than I do?

Since you seem very interested in pedantry, feel free to re-read what I wrote and by all means point out what is contradictory. 

I originally said "For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day."

Note that it does not say all women, and it doesn't say more than men. It doesn't say much at all except that in my experience women love to leave the lights on. It isn't even a negative except when compared to my personal desire to have the lights off.

Then I stated "And no need to bother with lame 'shaming language'. Something is either true or false, whether you consider it 'sexist' is irrelevant."

So unless you are going to claim that my personal experience has not been that women love leaving the lights on, there is no contradiction in anything I said. I never claimed it was anything other than an anecdotal observation. And that does not contradict the fact that a statement is either true or false.

So what exactly are you implying with your post? That I lied about my anecdotal experience?

It's clear that you, and several other posters initially misinterpreted my original post and assumed I was making some claim about 100% of human female.

Sadly, we speak to people not computers and if multiple people misunderstand us then we must accept that perhaps our words could have been better chosen. Myself, I can certainly see how there would be confusion with the phrase "for some reason women" being supposed to mean "some women in my experience." Consider the sentence" for some reason dogs seem to love bacon." People would understandably assume you were making a general statement about most dogs and not specifying merely an observation of some dogs you have personally known.

I think you could also forgive people for being confused why you even made the comment if you're just talking about personal experience and not making a generalization from it. In my experience, my roommates with brown eyes have not been as good about doing their dishes as my roommates with blue eyes. But I wouldn't start off an anecdote that way unless I associated some significance with it.

So, there you go. Some feedback so you can avoid the problem in the future.

No one is trying to put words in your mouth. This is an internet forum and none of us is being paid to write professionally here, so there is nothing wrong with clarifying what you meant. Accusing people of being butthurt thought police is an over reaction and not conducive to communication IMO.

[The Money Monk]

But ... how did you do it?
"How I got my girlfriend to turn the lights off"

Does the timer work, or were you just floating the idea?

Or was it through the beating?

Or did you guys just breakup?  She left you because you are kind of annoying when you argue things?

No I actually did install the timer switch, and it works. So I haven't had to break up with her...yet.

But she would agree with you that I am annoying when I argue things lol.

[The Money Monk]

Sadly, we speak to people not computers and if multiple people misunderstand us then we must accept that perhaps our words could have been better chosen.

We must accept no such thing. What is this premise based on? The sentence in question is easily understandable by anyone who knows and understands what the words mean.

Myself, I can certainly see how there would be confusion with the phrase "for some reason women" being supposed to mean "some women in my experience." Consider the sentence" for some reason dogs seem to love bacon." People would understandably assume you were making a general statement about most dogs and not specifying merely an observation of some dogs you have personally known.

There's just one glaring problem with your thought process here: I didn't just write "for some reason women" , I actually DID write "For some reason women SEEM to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day."

So the latter half of your argument there is actually in SUPPORT of what I have been saying!

You can't properly quote a sentence from half a page up and yet your assertion is that the misunderstandings are MY responsibility?

I think you could also forgive people for being confused why you even made the comment if you're just talking about personal experience and not making a generalization from it. In my experience, my roommates with brown eyes have not been as good about doing their dishes as my roommates with blue eyes. But I wouldn't start off an anecdote that way unless I associated some significance with it.

The fact that its personal experience is exactly why I WOULD mention it. This is a post about something that happened in my life, and my motivations for doing something. Why would I leave out my personal opinions?

And what if I do associate some significance to it? Am I just not 'allowed' to say it?

You quite obviously feel that if something might be found offensive I shouldn't say it, even if I have found it to be true (personally, myself, in my experience, with me, in my own life)

I am simply not interested in walking on eggshells around everybody. No anger involved, I just have no need to censor myself to appease people who are simply addicted to outrage.

So, there you go. Some feedback so you can avoid the problem in the future.

No need, Its not a problem for me. I am not upset. I accept that no matter what I say some percentage of people isn't going to like it. I don't have any need to feel like everybody likes me or agrees with me. Its actually liberating. You should try it. Going through life constantly worried about what other people think is a miserable way to live.

No one is trying to put words in your mouth. This is an internet forum and none of us is being paid to write professionally here, so there is nothing wrong with clarifying what you meant. Accusing people of being butthurt thought police is an over reaction and not conducive to communication IMO.

 I have no need to clarify. I wrote exactly what I meant to say and it was perfectly clear to anybody with basic reading comprehension.
 
Its very simple: You don't like what I said, and instead of admitting that it is clear that I was presenting my personal experience you and several other posters want me to denounce what I said in the interests of "clarifying"  or "avoiding future problems".

I appreciate the concern, but I am just not worried about it.

[Beric01]

Its very simple: You don't like what I said, and instead of admitting that it is clear that I was presenting my personal experience you and several other posters want me to denounce what I said in the interests of "clarifying"  or "avoiding future problems".

Well said. The oversensitivity of some posters in this thread is incredible. Grow a thicker skin! There's no such thing as a right not to be offended ... at least not yet.

[The Money Monk]

Its very simple: You don't like what I said, and instead of admitting that it is clear that I was presenting my personal experience you and several other posters want me to denounce what I said in the interests of "clarifying"  or "avoiding future problems".

Well said. The oversensitivity of some posters in this thread is incredible. Grow a thicker skin! There's no such thing as a right not to be offended ... at least not yet.

Indeed. Probably won't be long though.

[sobezen]

Its very simple: You don't like what I said, and instead of admitting that it is clear that I was presenting my personal experience you and several other posters want me to denounce what I said in the interests of "clarifying"  or "avoiding future problems".

Well said. The oversensitivity of some posters in this thread is incredible. Grow a thicker skin! There's no such thing as a right not to be offended ... at least not yet.

Agreed. I read Money Monk's original post and I felt his responses addressed each concern logically and rationally. YMMV.

[MikeBear]

I switched out ALL my bulbs with Cree led's from Home Depot. Kinda pricy, but worth it. Also, the outside lights have sensors and turn off after 5 minutes.

The first month my power bill dropped, just from doing this. They'll pay back after the first year.

[The Money Monk]

I switched out ALL my bulbs with Cree led's from Home Depot. Kinda pricy, but worth it. Also, the outside lights have sensors and turn off after 5 minutes.

The first month my power bill dropped, just from doing this. They'll pay back after the first year.

Yeah I had already switched the bulb out with an LED a while back, so honestly it will probably take a LONG time to recoup the cost of the $15 timer switch, but for some reason it would really bug me when it was on all night and I just had to swap it out.

I really do love the LED bulbs. I can't wait until they get even cheaper.

[justajane]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

[MikeBear]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

Nope, I've only ever seen women do this, sorry your troll didn't work.

[NinaNina]

Or was it through the beating?

Or did you guys just breakup?  She left you because you are kind of annoying when you argue things?

+1
You are on point, Cavewoman!

[justajane]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

Nope, I've only ever seen women do this, sorry your troll didn't work.

It's interesting that you would claim I am being trollish, when I simply made a comment about my experience that isn't even negative. Why are you annoyed I have found that men like to keep the lights on more than I do?

[MikeBear]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

Nope, I've only ever seen women do this, sorry your troll didn't work.

It's interesting that you would claim I am being trollish, when I simply made a comment about my experience that isn't even negative. Why are you annoyed I have found that men like to keep the lights on more than I do?

I'm not annoyed at all. I think your comment is a troll because it's a near one-for-one mini repeat of the OP's post, only substituting genders. It also says "MEN" and not "MAN" as in your husband...

[Hotstreak]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

If you mean turning on the power tools just because I like the way they sound, guilty!

[Goldielocks]

PS.  If your really do find a method to modify someone's light switch behavior,  please feel free to share with us as long as it cost less than $15.

This worked for employees who left cooler and freezer doors ajar...
Install a noise alarm, even a fairly quiet one.  Presto, door closed .

Really OP.  The woman slant to your post was trolling ...

My version goes like this...
"Why do men always leave their computer on?".  Blah blah etc etc

Hmm maybe I should buy that timer...too.

[swallowtail]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

Yeah!  TVs too.  Wow, men are just so wasteful and thoughtless!!

[swallowtail]

For some reason, men just love to wasting electricity. My husband always leaves the lights and fans on in our house. I've had to constantly go behind him and turn things off. It's like a full-time job.

Have any of you had to resort to such measures?

If you mean turning on the power tools just because I like the way they sound, guilty!

HA!  (Pig.)

[sheepstache]

Sadly, we speak to people not computers and if multiple people misunderstand us then we must accept that perhaps our words could have been better chosen.

We must accept no such thing. What is this premise based on?

History. The nature of language itself.

Myself, I can certainly see how there would be confusion with the phrase "for some reason women" being supposed to mean "some women in my experience." Consider the sentence" for some reason dogs seem to love bacon." People would understandably assume you were making a general statement about most dogs and not specifying merely an observation of some dogs you have personally known.

There's just one glaring problem with your thought process here: I didn't just write "for some reason women" , I actually DID write "For some reason women SEEM to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day."

So the latter half of your argument there is actually in SUPPORT of what I have been saying!

You can't properly quote a sentence from half a page up and yet your assertion is that the misunderstandings are MY responsibility?

I was pointing out the difference between "women" vs. "some women" or "women I have known." "Women" is more likely to be interpreted as "all women" or to be a blanket statement (e.g., 'women bear children, not men' is understood by people to be discussing a characteristic specific to women even though we know not all women bear children.). The 'seems' wasn't relevant to that particular point.

I did note that you wrote 'seems' and that's why I included it in the dog example. Which is the latter half of my argument you were talking about. But I'm contending that sentence would be interpreted by most people as saying something general about dogs. I included the 'seems' for strict accuracy but it just makes it sound like the speaker's not 100% certain, they're obviously still trying to make some universal point about dogs, not speaking of only specific dogs they've met.

And what if I do associate some significance to it? Am I just not 'allowed' to say it?

Where on earth do you get that I'm saying that? You see what I mean about language being open to interpretation?

I'm saying the format you used is what could lead to misunderstanding. Generally when people put things in the way you have put them it would mean they felt some behavior was particular to women in general. Due to common conventions of speech.  Most major recent terrorist attacks in the US have been done by Muslims. This is true, but you might or might not choose to start a conversation with it depending on what your overall point was. This is common sense. It has nothing to do with being allowed to say it, just accepting that we make choices about how we put things in order to convey what we want.

You quite obviously feel that if something might be found offensive I shouldn't say it, even if I have found it to be true (personally, myself, in my experience, with me, in my own life)

I am simply not interested in walking on eggshells around everybody. No anger involved, I just have no need to censor myself to appease people who are simply addicted to outrage.

You agree that there are misunderstandings (except later when you claim nobody misunderstood) but then say they don't like what you're saying, which is contradictory. You say you "don't back down" but obviously simply explaining something further to clear up a misinterpretation is not "backing down." If all you're saying is "Most of the women I have met in my life are bad about remembering to turn out lights and I'm just mentioning this as a funny detail because I don't use this trend from a very small and not-randomly selected sample to generate any assumptions about all women in general" then I don't think anyone would give you a hard time about that.

Go back and read it, the entire premise of my first post (and this post, for that matter) was accepting that this is what you meant to say. And I did not criticize that message at all. I was just pointing out how I thought it might have come across differently. I mean, hell, even a lot of the guys who are agreeing with you think you're making a general statement about women :) But you're only criticizing the reading comprehension of people who would have a problem with that.

[Dicey]

When we bought our new house we were shocked by the electric bill. We replaced all 100+ can lights to LEDs at no small cost, but it did cut the bill substantially. When DH was switching them out, I asked him to put sensors in the laundry room and the pantry. Why? Because my hands are usually full when I'm in/out of there. It makes me smile every time the lights switch on/off automatically for me. It's as if he's saying "I love you for taking such good care of me and our home." And yeah, he does get generously and frequently rewarded for his valor.

[Cressida]

OP: Imagine if you had said, "For some reason Latinos seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day." This would unquestionably be a racist and objectionable statement. For that matter, even if you had said instead, "For some reason Latinos seem to love to save energy by turning off every light in the house," this would still be racist and objectionable because it lumps all members of a class together without regard for their individuality.

Saying "For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day" is no different. It is sexist. Women are people, not some mysterious non-male species. They differ from one another as much as humans in general differ from one another.

I don't expect OP to agree with this, given his previous posts. But I'm posting it anyway in case anyone has found his comments convincing.

[Spartana]

For some reason men seem to love to dress in drag and go down to the local gay bar and hop on stage to dance to some Liza and Barbara tunes.

Woman here. Hate lights on. typing in the dark (explains massive typos :-)!). Have a $10 - $15/month electric bill. One low wattage porch light and a couple of small 4 watt night lights in bathroom is all I need.

[Beric01]

OP: Imagine if you had said, "For some reason Latinos seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day." This would unquestionably be a racist and objectionable statement. For that matter, even if you had said instead, "For some reason Latinos seem to love to save energy by turning off every light in the house," this would still be racist and objectionable because it lumps all members of a class together without regard for their individuality.

Saying "For some reason women seem to love to leave every light in the house on all day every day" is no different. It is sexist. Women are people, not some mysterious non-male species. They differ from one another as much as humans in general differ from one another.

I don't expect OP to agree with this, given his previous posts. But I'm posting it anyway in case anyone has found his comments convincing.

So is noticing a trend sexist now?

I don't agree with the OP's conclusions - I've never found women to leave lights on more - if anything it's the opposite. But he's got every right to his own opinion. And noticing a trend is not sexist. Can we stop being so sensitive?

[Cressida]

And noticing a trend is not sexist. Can we stop being so sensitive?

Look, dude. Telling a member of a protected class that they're being "sensitive" is not good behavior.

I do not expect Beric01 to understand the distinction I'm going to make, but I'm going to make it anyway. It's true that men and women act differently ON AVERAGE in today's society, taken as a whole. HOWEVER, that different behavior is socialized. It's not innate. It occurs because adults treat boys and girls differently from the womb onwards, and the children behave to those expectations.

My position is that the gender behavioral differences (1) are much smaller than people think they are; the bell curves overlap almost entirely and (2) to the extent that there are differences, we can eliminate them by STOPPING socializing boys and girls differently. And why wouldn't we want to do this? Would we want to socialize different races differently? Would we want to socialize different income levels differently? Of course not. We want to give everyone an equal chance in life.

So my final point is: Saying "I know some women and I know some men and they don't act the same all the time" is fatuous. It doesn't address the actual problem and it completely punts any obligation to make society better.