[RKDinOKC]

Have dusk to dawn feature on my outdoor garage lights. Calculated putting a 24 hour timer switch in so they would turn on with their dusk to dawn sensor then turn the off with the 24 hour timer switch. If I programmed it to turn the lights off at midnite they would save about six hours a day in a year. It comes out to about $11 a year that it would save. A 24 hour programmable switch costs $20 including tax. It would be a little over 2 years for those switches to pay for themselves and according to the reviews the darn things only last about 2 years.

I also turn on my inside garage light to get in the car before I open the overhead door. It is a 9watt LED bulb. It stays on until I return and head back into the house. Thought about getting a countdown timer switch that i could turn on the light long enough to get in the car is $20. That way the light would turn off after I left. Then the light on the garage door opener would be plenty to get back in the house when I return. Problem is a cheap timer switch again is $20. The light can be on 24 hours a day for a year for about $12.

All this money saving timer switches would be great if I were still using 60 to 100 watt incandecent bulbs. But with these low wattage LED bulb things it just takes too long for them to pay for themselves.

Also wanted to note I got through the winter with my gas water heater in vacation mode. Still able to take warm showers no problems. Doesn't even seem to take any longer for hot water to reach the shower. Kinda weird how that works. It's like the vacation mode turned my 40 gal water heater into one of those in-line on-demand water heaters. Might be different if it were more than just me taking a shower.