I grew up as a child where every penny counted and so from the beginning on my parents instilled in me not to let the water run, and to turn off the lights. If I know some light is on in a room that is not being used, it actually bothers me and I have to go turn it off. Just have to keep reminding the boyfriend.

I wrote my utility bill amount on a post-it and stuck it on the fridge. Then I'd make it a game to see how much I could lower it. The act of making a number a target made energy conservation click in my head. I'd also think about what I would RATHER do with the extra $20.

Also, for security reasons I have 2 lights on a timer (I have irregular hours and I wanted the house to look occupied)-- after a while they became the only lights I left on. . .

I'm all for self-control, but those just plain forgetful (like me), I'd suggest a vacancy sensor. Tip: Don't use them with CFLs. http://1000bulbs.com/category/motion-occupancy-vacancy-sensors/

My father grew up during the Depression, so I just channel his voice: "Turn off the lights - do you think we're made of money?" Also: "Shut the door - were you brought up in a barn?"

I suggest unplugging lamps you really don't need (guest room, laundry room, extra lamps in the liviing room). Plug them in only when needed.
I also have 'nightlights' in every and I mean every room. This way I don't need to turn on lights at night when I go from one room to the next. My nighlights range from those very small plug ins to smaller 'lamps' like for a childs room that give a soft glow but enough to watch where you are going. I perfer those at night when I need to use the restroom. I hate glaring light in the middle of the night.
I also unplugg my washer and dryer when not in use but the plugs are in easy reach at 'chair rail' height. I've found by doing this, my power company gave me a 10% discount for several months because I was an energy saver.
I hope this helps.

I'm having a hard time understanding why an adult would need a "trick" to remember to turn off a light when leaving a room. Apparently the rumors are true and I am from another planet.

It helps to be slightly compulsive, but I also do not think tricks are required--just make it a habit to not leave a room without turning the lights off.

I've always just hit the switch on the way out the door. It bothers me, too, to leave lights on in another room and I'll get up to shut them off.

One thing I use to remind myself to do something is to move one of my rings from it's usual finger to another one. It feels weird so I know there was something I was supposed to do. I don't think this would work long-term but you might try wearing a watch on the wrong hand, or a rubber band bracelet or something to remind yourself.

And if all else fails, just go turn off the light when you notice it's on and no one is in the room.

This is not exactly a solution, but I hate bright lights so that's my incentive. Other bad habits I broke by A. reading about how it harms animals (can't get those images out of your mind until you turn off the lights) and B. Make one Eco Resolution per month, if it were turning off the lights I'd just remind myself every day for one month until it was an ingrained habit. I can tell you that even indoor lights confuse animals (like turtles) and cause them to die because their behaviors change.

I would think that it would be easy enough for an adult to train him/herself to remember to turn off the lights. I turn off lights as I leave a room, without fail. As does my spouse. The issue we have is with the kids! My son will leave his nightlight on EVERY morning when he leaves for school. When he wakes up in the morning, his room is so bright that he can't tell the little light is on. I am planning on stealing the Christmas tree light timer and using it for his night light.

My daughter is another issue entirely. She has her bedroom in the basement, and I'm rarely down there. So we normally don't notice until that night that her bedroom light AND the basement light have been left on all day. I haven't figured out a solution for this one, yet!

Think about an amount per dollar of your electricity bill to give to charity. It should be enough that it will bother you if its your current electricity bill. You will be suprised how fast you will remember to turn off the electricity to save money.

I have hada habit of turning all lights out for so long I am fairly good at it. My daughter doesn't practice this habit. I am always on her about the lights.
Happy Monday.
Teresa
xoxo

Turning off the lights when I leave a room (so long as I'm not returning) is so natural that I find this question really unexpected. It's one of those actions that's just ingrained into me -- like holding the door open if someone is following me through it, or pushing in a chair when I get up. It's automatic.

If your automatic behavior is to ignore or forget it, then focus on being less automatic, less detached. Instead of fixating on accomplishing a single act (flipping the switch), try to just be aware of what you're doing as you do it. I'll bet that when you walk by the light switch without noticing it, it's because your thoughts are ahead of you -- you're already thinking about what you're about to watch on TV, which shoes you're about to put on, where you put your phone, or what's for dinner. So instead of leaving the room on auto-pilot with your thoughts elsewhere, ground your thoughts in what you're currently doing.

Am From from a small island in the Caribbean and you are trains from you small to save light. So its not that hard, what its really gard its that am married to a canadian when she when to the island she learned about it, and know here in canada she look freaky foor other because she keep shooting off the light that she dont need..

I'll come smack you silly every time you leave a light on so that we don't have to have any more posts about #firstworldproblems.

I mean, really, how hard is it to just turn off the lights?

Here's a great "trick" I've learned to help me turn lights off.

1) Is the room dark?

2) If yes, go find the source of the light and turn it off.

3) Lather, rinse, repeat until the entire house is dark.

She asked for help and most of these post are just to bash her. If you have nothing to contribute, move to the next post.
It's not necessary to be mean or to insult.

It's very simple. Just think about how much $ the light is costing you. $ is the best incentive for everything.

Err I have quite the opposite problem. The habit of turning the light off when I leave a room is so ingrained that I occasionally turn it off on my way out while my husband is still in the room. Oops.

It's so automatic for my kids to turn out lights when they leave the room that they often hear someone say, "Hey! I was reading!"

Honestly, it's completely automatic. I dislike non-natural light and use it only when absolutely necessary. I only turn on a light when I need it, and as soon as I don't anymore, I turn it off (in and out of the bathroom, kitchen, etc). There's usually one last light to consciously turn off before bed, and that's the one in the main living area -- no reminders needed as we can see it from our bed.

My husband needs a reminder every now and then, but I can usually flip it for him instead. He works from home and it really annoys me that he uses a light during daylight hours instead of being comfortable with the light from the window.

I'd say invest in some automatic lights. I've been in a few houses where you just enter the room and the light switch is a motion control light and everything turns on and off for you. Kind of nice. Freaky at first but nice.

Like Snowlet, I've competed with myself to see how low I could get my electric bill. When I first started (during a time of year when I needed little or no AC or heat), my bill was $40. I became extra-vigilant about lights and appliances, and got it down to $18.

For me, it was a game, but I can see how many people wouldn't want to be bothered by "I can't turn on more than one lamp at night."

If you live with a willing roommate, you can both agree to pay the other person when you come home or wake up to realize a light or appliance was unnecessarily left on. $5 per offense should resolve forgetfulness.

Motion sensor switches, as recommended by BGR5928, are a good idea, but mostly just for people who aren't interested in overcoming their forgetfulness. If you're trying to be more mindful, a light switch that does the work for you isn't going to help.

This was a really easy lesson to learn... The price of electricity in South Africa Sky-rocketed... trebled in less than a year and regularly goes up 25%... We pay so much for electricity compared to what we used to pay that we turn everything off - nothing on standby... we all read in the lounge before bed rather than everyone in their own spot with a lamp. Don't pre-heat the oven and turn it off as you finish cooking... cook more than one dish together... Never use the power guzzler: tumble dryer... Life changing but not that inconvenient!!! Wish we had changed years ago we could have saved real money even when we were paying so much less in the past.

Just an aside, I have no idea if this is terrible for the environment but we have some small white LED lights that we left plugged in most of this winter just because it cheered up the living room and kitchen. We have those CFL bulbs everywhere but we almost never turn on lights anymore, simply use the holiday lights to guide our way to the kitchen and bathroom. Sometimes we just use those fake candles. They're only on between 5 or 6 pm (when the lights go down) to 8 or so pm when we're done with dinner. Then all the lights except the CFLs in the living room are on. No idea what this does for efficiency, but it's gotten us into the habit of not even turning on lamps.

pfft. Correction: Holiday LED lights is what I meant - and turned on when the SUN goes down. Sorry.

Then all the lights except the CFLs in the living room are OFF. Sheesh! Sorry for all the typos.

My husband is terrible for leaving lights/electronics/water on. When I first met him he would leave the car running for an hour before we were ready to travel. I am very environmentally/money conscious so I had to take drastic steps to fix my darling man. Many people may not agree with my method but it was effective.

I cut out photos from FHM and MAXIM magazine of busy, half naked women. I taped the photos over every light switch in our house. I told him, "These women turn you on, but you need to turn them off!" It took 2 weeks but what happened was that my husband would see the photos and they would force him to think about the lights and then he started turning them off. I only had to endure the busy model for about three weeks in total and he was cured!

If you were alive during the 1970s energy crisis, remembering isn't an issue for you. It's like asking 'what trick do you use to remember to stand up before you walk'. I WILL ditto the automatic switch suggestion though. I have one in my laundry room because I'm usually entering/leaving that room with an armload of clothes. It's handy to not have to make an extra trip to the room to turn the light on/off.

LOL @Jkilgour. Awesome.

*busty, not busy

I have a girlfriend who gives me an evil eye any time she suspects a light is on elsewhere.

BTW is anyone looking for a used girlfriend?

Another survivor of the 70's. I honestly can't remember how I taught myself to be more aware back then, but having a life-long interest in ecology and the environment, and being very unhappy about what we all are doing to the planet made me receptive to anything *I* might be able to do. (Not that I am perfect by any means, but turning off lights is not one of my weaker areas!) Watch "An Inconvenient Truth", maybe that will inspire you!!

We use all CFLs except in a couple of fixtures that just don't work with them, we have dimmers on some fixtures, and we have a few LED nightlight/flashlight combinations that are very energy efficient, and can be taken off the wall and used as flashlights when the power goes out! (Very cool devices!) We have one table lamp on in the living room most of the evening (I usually sit there to read) and a pair of dimmed low pendants in the "library" which is the passage to the stairway to the bedrooms, only at night. Other lights go on only as needed, and are turned off as we leave the room. If we are coming right back, more often than not, the light goes off then back on when we return. When watching movies in the home theater (which can be pitch black in daytime) we turn off the hall lights outside the room. Being female, I rarely even turn on the lights to use the bathroom... especially at night when lights wake me up too much. (It really annoys me to have to turn on lights to take medicine or anything...)

It's an easy habit to develop, especially if it matters to you. (Both.) Just keep practicing.

I do this for the most part automatically, but if I were to train someone to turn the lights off as they exit a room, I would tie something to a string and hang it at eye level from the door frame.

After a minimum of one week, and as soon as they learn to turn off the lights, the annoyance gets taken down. If they forget, the annoyance gets put back up in that particular room for a minimum of two days.

For every day where you've been successful in turning off lights, give yourself a little reward at night.

I doubt it would take more than a month to turn this into habit.

Easy. A rolling 12 month history of my electric bill is always coursing through my mind.

Buy one of those metal money boxes that are sealed closed. Make a deal with whoever you live with: anyone caught leaving a light on in an empty room, has to put $1 (or 50c, or whatever) into the money box.

Whoever doesn't re-train themselves to turn lights off, stat, is going to end up paying most of the power bill. Perfect.

Seriously, this is an issue, a *thing*? Have people become so lazy or non-aware that turning off a light when they exit a room in not automatic? I don't care what damn era you grew up in, on what planet is there even an excuse for that sort of indolence and stupidity? Evidently, the one we're busy destroying.

I'm cheap--it's not a problem.

It was drilled into us when I was little to turn off the lights when we left a room. I just do it automatically. For the kitchen I use fluorescent lights and have one that's on a timer, so there's always light in the evening, and I don't come home to a dark apt. You could either install motion lights or use a timer on a small lamp, wall sconce, or hanging pendant light in the bathroom or bedroom that has a 7 watt CFL for evening use. That way, there's no need to turn on a light and the energy use is minimal.

How about one of those timers you'd use for your lights when you go on vacations to trick thieves into thinking you are home. I saw one at IKEA that has a 24 hour interval so you decide what hours your lights are on or off. You just stick it in between the plug and the socket. This of course only works if the light plugs into a wall.

It's just practise. Try remember to turn off lights and if you walk into a dark room, give yourself a pat on the back as a reward. Feel smug if you like.

It's just like any other habit you are trying to instill in yourself--it takes time, thought and practice. They say it takes 21 times to make something a habit. In my own experience, it takes about a month, or 30 days, to really get something to be a habit, to the point where you just do it and don't have to think about it.

If you take the next month and make turning off unneeded lights a priority, I suspect it will become a habit and you won't have to think about it anymore.

I've done this with various household tasks that I want to make sure I do daily--making my bed, scooping the litter box, leaving the kitchen totally clean at night, that sort of thing. Work on one new habit a month, for the entire month. Takes some time if you are trying to create several new habits, but it works for me.

These are cute, but I remember to turn the lights off because I had pretty hard-core training as a kid. It's automatic for me to switch off a light when I leave a room. As an expectant 1st-time mom, I will likely have to go through the same process my mother and grandmother did with me. But by the time my kid grows up, maybe all lighting will be sensory anyway (fingers crossed) -- problem solved!

i just turn off lights when i leave rooms. i became notorious in my college b/c i was constantly doing it to people in the bathroom by accident. sometimes i do it when people are in rooms, but hey ... there is one light on in my house right now.

I don't need a trick. My mother's voice plays in my head every single time I leave a room -- turn off the lights! It's almost a tic. Happily, my electrical bills are low, though, so I thank her for it. She was zealous about it because, even in the early 60s, she was already an ardent protector of the earth's precious resources. We grew up with her frugal "green" ways and I love that I've followed in her footsteps. She just called it being a good Girl Scout -- yes, she was our Girl Scout troop leader, too.