Each time I walk through the house, I check and recheck to make sure no unnecessary lights are left on. High electric bills are inevitable in Texas. Since A/C is a necessity, I like to conserve other energy sources as much as possible.
Trouble is, my kids seem to think electricity is free. I find lights on in empty rooms multiple times a day. Telling them to turn them off falls on deaf ears. So I took some advice from my friend Aubrie, one the best moms I know.
If I happen to find a light left on in an empty room, the last kid in the room owes me 25 cents. Seriously. This makes an impact. The first few days, I “earned” over two dollars. So far today, I am up to 75 cents.
I am hoping that soon enough, I will no longer be depleting their piggy banks. Until then, I have plenty of extra money to spend at CVS!
That works for me!
We’ve been having some hot weather for California as well. Today was 110 and we’ve been running the AC all afternoon. I have it set at 78, but it still runs and runs. My kids are to young for an allowance, but I’m sure I will be after them to turn off the lights in a couple years.
those quarters really work…when we were younger, suddenly it seemed like everybody always left their shoes in the den at night…between the 5 of us, that made for a lot of shoes. Mama and Daddy instituted the $0.25 rule – whoever found shoes in the den in the morning could charge the owner $0.25 to get them back…the funny thing was us kids learned the rule much more quickly and I think my parents shelled out the majority of the quarters. We loved it!
This is a good idea…I have been preaching the same sermon here. And I don’t think anyone is listening.
I will try this idea out.
Thanks for posting
Hey thanks for kind words! I hope it works as well for you as it did for me! I haven’t gotten any $$ from my boys in a while! Now if I could only find something that worked that well for my husband…..
I’m a fanatic about cutting the lights off when you leave but my recent houseguests weren’t. It drove me bonkers to see all those lights on and I was constantly following behind them…but I can’t fuss at a guest. 🙂
My Dad used to take my brother’s light bulb out!
Nothing worse than walking into a dark room, flipping the light switch and nothing happens…LOL!
I used to think he was being silly, but boy do I understand now 😉
I like your $0.25 fee. That could work for lots of issues!
Ice House- Taking the light bulb out? Wow, I think that might be a better strategy. So far, I am still raking in those quarters!
What a great idea! Love it!!