You may not see a huge savings by following this plan, but remember, every little bit helps. The suggestion here is to get CFL bulbs for every light in your house. Depending on your situation, you may want to do this a little at a time or all at once. No matter how you implement this plan, the up-front cost will be higher, but we always have to look long-term.

If you own your own home or don’t plan to move for a long long time, you will likely want to wait until you need a new light bulb before making the switch. If you are in a place that you plan to move out of in the next 2-3 years, go ahead and do them all at once.

If you are in an apartment or plan to sell your house in the next 2-3 years, save the bulbs you take out if they still work and put them in a safe place. Then you can put them back in when you move and take the CFL bulbs with you if you so desire. If you will be in the same place for a long long time, you may want to just wait till the old ones burn out because it will be one less thing you will have to store and have around.

CFL bulbs are those bulbs you may have seen that look like a coiled up spring instead of a regular bulb. They do cost a bit more than regular incandescent light bulbs but given the rated life on them, they are cheaper in the long run based on the bulb cost divided by the number of hours it is rated for. The initial cost for this plan can be significant depending on the number of bulbs you are replacing simply because the cost per bulb is higher, but they are still cheaper in the long run.

The other way that you will save money with this plan is that CFL bulbs use less electricity than their incandescent counterparts. As a bonus, even though they use less electricity, they put out just as much if not more light and are as bright if not brighter than the incandescent lights I have replaced them with. The savings you see on the electric bill may not be huge (depending on how many bulbs, how much time you normally have them on, etc) but remember every little bit helps.

If you haven’t given CFL bulbs a try yet, give them a chance. If nothing else, just do one light fixture with them and see if they are not brighter than the bulbs you replaced them with. Knowing they use less electricity and last longer, you will likely replace more in the future.