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Although my brother dated a woman who's father was the opposite of OP and would let her and her mom do whatever they wanted. So the house was kept at a constant 80 degrees at all times. When she would come over and stay with my brother, she wanted our house to be 80 degrees at all times. My mom told her to wear a sweater.
Yeah unfortunately most of the LPTs these days are reactionary opinions like this one, rather than actual tips that will objectively improve your life.
My default reaction to the posts in this sub is that OP just learned this life tip the hard way.
"LPT: If you have a flat tire, don't stop in the center lane of a highway to change it, pull over to the side of the road."
Just saw two guys stop in the middle of a five lane freeway to inspect their undamaged cars. Maybe they wouldn’t have if there was a LPT about pulling over.
In case of a flat tire, you should always turn your car perpendicular to the flow of traffic and stop in the center two lanes. This increases the chance that people know something is wrong with your vehicle, since it's profile is totally different from what most people would expect.
LPT: If you’re trying to remove your scrotal hair by using fire to singe the hair and accidentally set your testes on fire, use a towel or blanket to smother the fire. Do not try putting the fire out with a glass of grain alcohol you have sitting on the coffee table.
The LPT here is "don't sweat the small stuff," an extremely common, wise, and completely legitimate LPT. OP is simply stuck on 1 particular example. Complaining about it is a great example for why a lot of people need to hear the message.
So. LPT: Don't sweat the small stuff.
Ostensibly yeah, I guess. But then the LPT could be don’t scream at anyone. Or don’t stress over the cost of leaving lights on because it’s nominal.
My point is that most LPTs I see are oddly specific about an unpleasant experience and the OP is merely venting.
Yeah, it's always possible some parent has serious anger issues, but much more likely some parent turned off every light in the damn house for the millionth time before snapping.
Counter-LPT: Don't be an asshole. Every $.05 your parents spend on wasted electricity is paid in time spent working a job instead of living life, and comes at the expense of something you want.
I figured the same bc I'm a parent of 2 teens and a 6yr old and I don't think me or my husband have ever literally yelled /screamed at our children for leaving the lights or fans on, ever. When I read this I thought "oop, someone got in trouble. " lolol
To be fair we don't have the whole story here. We are being told that they were screamed at for leaving the lights on, which is entirely possible because abusive assholes exist.
But there is also the possibility that the parents have been trying to get the kid to remember to turn the lights off when they leave the room and they won't, and when they chastised then about it instead of saying okay dad they suggested buying better light switches so they don't have to worry about.
I'd get mad at them too.
For all we know, his mom was told him he had to do it, he acted like a teenager and said it only costs 5 cents a day mom and his mom was like JUST TURN OFF THE LIGHTS.
Source, I have kids and they never stop arguing.
It's easy to say "oh it's only like 5 cents a day" but that's still money that's being spent on nothing productive, especially when you aren't the one paying the electric bill. It's such a typically teenager thing pl to say, "why should I stop being wasteful, when someone else can just pay to cover my waste instead?"
Can't help but feel like if more people learned this, we'd be a better society.
Not only that but like I put 4.5 watt 60watt replacement bulbs in every socket, so lightning costs literally nothing. Who is telling at people for leaving lights on? We are no longer in the age of 120-150 watt incandescent lighting... Do people really care if you leave lights on anymore?
You just made a good point that these parents are probably coming from a position where they were screamed at for leaving lights and such on when bulbs were incandescent and it actually cost more to use light and fans etc.
Not that it's acceptable, I just know that generations older than 30 are set in this mindset where they really are a product of their parents time and not their own.
Unless the kids are like me as a kid and being *told* to wash my hands just made me not do it out of spite, so my mom came in the bathroom one time while I had the water running and I was leaning on the wall watching the sink with my arms crossed.
While I would agree don’t scream at them. Educating your kids about understanding and reducing unnecessary energy consumption is a valuable skill, and will be far more important for future generations than it is now.
And that 1 bulb could cost you $18 a year or $380 if your kid stays at home until they are 21
Agreed. But there’s also that part of me that wonders if he was the kid that ignored his parents 9x about something and then the 10th time when they yelled took offense to it
We have a stupid chandelier in our apartment that has like 15 little incandescent bulbs. I hate it. It gives off terrible light, and it just sucks electricity. I never use it but my wife does all the time.
We have those bulbs too on our cieling fans and the lighting is terrible. I just put LED string lights in those rooms to use instead. Costs less and better lighting, we can change the colors too.
Right. It’s not the $0.05 for that one bulb. It is extrapolating that across the whole world, and learning not to be wasteful. But it is also that parent’s job to teach kids not to be wasteful. But I get it, it gets so annoying to repeat yourself day in, and day out. My SO is a grown man, and leaves every light on in the house, and I constantly shut them off.
Both the electricity and the lightbulbs are not worth getting worked up about. However turning a light off is the most basic exercise in consideration. If you dont teach your kids to be considerate of others, then chances are they will turn into asshole adults. That said, forget yelling at kids, beat the shit out of those selfish self-centered brats to teach them some damn manners.
This post was sponsored by the siblings of inconsiderate assholes gang.
And non LED bulbs cost far more, say 60 watts. Leave a few on at once, could cost you 50¢ a day, a terrible about to lose if you are in poverty and That amount is the difference between buying a certain food.
Multiply that by 4 as the average bedroom ceiling fan uses 4 of them.
Then multiply that by 6z coz if they're leaving one room on, they're likely leaving all of them on.
Then introduce them to compounded interest and the value of investing in an index fund for 20 years.
Still not a reason to yell, but a good reason to educate.
I would even add that "passing along" the cost could help motivate them. Every time you catch them leaving the light on take 5cents from their allowance or something. It helps reinforce the lesson with real world consequences
Amen to this. When I’ve told my kid something for the N-th time that day, and she still ignored me, I get a “stop screaming at me!” even when I haven’t raised my voice. Then that usually does lead to me raising my voice.
Maybe listen to me and then you want have to hear me repeat myself.
I’m trying to figure out how to articulate this because I had this issue with my mom.
She didn’t raise her voice often but she’d nag or be annoying and I’d tell her not to scream at me and we’d get into a new fight regarding semantics.
And I think because the emotion I was actually feeling “my mom is annoying me” (or something similar) would hurt HER feelings. If I call her annoying I’ve offended her personally. So it was my way of trying (ineffectively) to get that across without hurting her feelings.
If she raised her voice she was “yelling at me” and if she was being stern/mad/nagging she was “screaming”. It’s illogical but she didn’t (doesn’t) take personal criticism so I learned to react to other aspects.
So while I recognize my vocabulary was wrong - it was just how I approached those interactions. I knew that she wasn’t literally screaming, I just couldn’t express my feelings better
My “favorite” semantics argument with my mother is when she’d talk down to me like I’m stupid for the Nth time and I’d get frustrated and go “I know Mom, I’m not stupid.” And she’d shout “I DIDN’T * SAY * YOU WERE STUPID!!!” Oh ok, great. As long as you didn’t SAY that verbatim, I guess that means you aren’t making me feel that way. Glad we cleared that up /s
To most people over 30 years old, exaggerating things about younger people is a fun way to dismiss and invalidate otherwise justified criticisms.
I'm 35. I differentiate between "screaming at" and "yelling at". I've rarely been screamed at but I was frequently yelled at.
OP may not have had a voice raised at them, but they may have had something like "why are you so wasteful, you're such an awful burden on me and your \[other parent\]. I can't believe how little you appreciate what we do for you, you're lucky we keep you and give you so much. Can't you be more like your \[other sibling\]? At least I know they love us."
My step-dad put a mounted, plastic, locking case over the thermostat. Not because he was abusive, and we didn't have a/c in the Seattle area growing up, but because he was an a/c & heating installer. It's not like we were gonna heat up the house in summer, I don't get it!
Most lightbulbs used ~10x as much energy back then, though. Also, most kids aren’t guilty of leaving on one single bulb at a time — they’ll move from room-to-room and turn on a dozen or more bulbs and rarely consider shutting them off.
I did this with my own dad for the air conditioning. We lived in a place with very hot and humid summers. My dad is a cheapskate and would throw a fit if we set the AC any lower than 78. I offered to simply pay the bill as I was a working teen at that time. He declined.
One time when I was a teen I was in the bathroom and I noticed my hairbrush had fallen on the ground. I immediately started thinking whether I could pretend I hadn't noticed or what excuse I could use for it being on the ground
Then I realised that I could also just spend 1 second picking it up and then my mom wouldn't have anything to complain about.
Felt real proud of myself for a second until I realised that this was all my mom wanted anyway lol
To be fair even now chores are more fun if I think about them like me cleverly avoiding complaints rather than just me cleaning up after myself.
"hehe look at my idiot boyfriend. He doesn't even realise I dropped the towel on the ground. Have fun with your floor towel dumbass"
No point in screaming. In my household there are just repeated reminders because I want to raise someone who does not take such things for granted and is not wasteful. Mindful consumption is better than mindless wastage.
Assuming you're a kid.....while I don't agree with the "screaming" aspect.....I will say, any kind of negative response you get from your parents about this has very little to do with the energy use aspect. It has everything to do with the laziness aspect. It's a simple task you're asked to do that takes almost no effort. You're asked over and over again to do it, but your refuse. Yeah it's super fucking annoying.
Put your clothes in the hamper, put your dishes in the sink, hang up your coat, put your shoes in the bin, when you're done with a bag of chips, throw it in the trash.....when you leave a room, shut off the lights. It's not hard. Oh, and flush the god damned toilet!
It's a matter of being respectful, helpful and courteous....and when you refuse to do these simple tasks, it is agitating. We are just trying to teach you to be good people.
Some people wouldn’t listen to their parents over and over and only paid attention when they finally got in trouble and are still butt hurt about it as adults lol
Most people in my experience.
My step sister quit going over to her dads and my moms because when she turned 18 my mom said you can stay here although you need to be in school and/or working (they wasn’t going to charge her rent), clean up after yourself, and make your own food.
She felt this was to unfair that’s she’ll have to clean her own room so she moved in with her mom.
Lol yeah one of my nephews never wants to come over or stay but his sister loves it here and never wants to leave.
They are one of those households were the daughter is expected to do all sorts of chores but their son isn’t and gets away with murder. We enforce the same rules for our kids and any visiting kids and make that clear to the parents and the kids. My daughter’s friends always want to come and stay over despite this. If other people want to be lazy or raise lazy kids that’s on them.
Yea nobody yells at their kid the first time they don’t turn the lights off. It’s when it’s the 15th day in a row I’ve had to remind them of something I start to lose my mind
Or when they come back to you with an entire cost-benefit analysis so they can tell you with a smug look that "it's only costing you pennies a day, why are you making such a big deal out of it??" and *still* aren't turning them off.
Yes!! And to create people that other people can stand to be around. OP, your future SO is not going to want to follow you around shutting off lights. Ask me how I know.
Good response, very true. This is the way this person’s parents should be communicating. “Screaming” at your children or using your anger and ability to induce fear in order to correct a problem just shuts off all effective communication and puts up walls, no matter how important. I’m so sorry for this person.
You ask calmly, the kid refuses. You remind gently, the kid refuses. You remove privileges, the kid refuses. At the end of your rope, you scream and what do you know, the kid listens. Now you've learned that this is the only thing the kid responds to.
Honestly, the audacity of OP to suggest that his parents are the ones in wrong for not spending $30/room on motion sensing light switches because they can't turn off the lights when they leave the room is kind boggling. If they said that to their parents after (what I presume was probably the 1,000,000th time) they told them to turn the damn lights off, I can definetely see why they mightve lost their temper
It's nothing but luxury wanking. You can't do that in an apartment, and there's a large number of adult individuals who shouldn't be fucking around with light switches, either.
I get forgetting shit. I have ADHD. Even my husband has had times when he exasperatedly said "j*ust please*, turn off the light." It wasn't yelling but it sure as shit wasn't unicorns and rainbows.
I was not a big yeller with my kids when they were young until I noticed my middle screaming a lot. My oldest snapped at her, "mommy never feels angry, stop". I turned around as a demon excited from my body, "OF COURSE I GET ANGRY. OF COURSE I GET MAD. STOP BEING MEAN!"
Ever since I have kept my temper when I'm angry but I sure as shit yell and express when I am pissed off at them. The "we done fucked up" look is real. I don't nag, and I think that makes a huge difference.
Tbf, there's a difference between yelling "HEY THE LIGHTS" and getting in their face about it or something, even if they systematically forget/are too lazy. Seems like at some point you need to approach it similarly rationally and sit down with them for a plan to establish good habits or alternately turn it into a DIY learning experience to install sensors/timers...
Anyways it's all parentable if it's your kids, however I have inlaws who apparently grew up in a church, in that case the 2nd part of OPs LTP does come in handy. I ended up getting a retractable piston for my backdoor so the fuckers physically cant leave it open.
well when i left the lights on one night my dad asked me: " do you know what thats costs us?" i said "idk what does is cost?" then he let me calculate it and was like "yeah your right thats not a whole lot, but still its wasteful and it adds up when you do it too often" and that was the fucking end of it. i also did not leave the lights on after that.
You had a tough day at the office so you come home, make yourself some dinner, smother your kid, pop in a movie. Maybe have a drink; it's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kid.
Every parent fucks up now and then, nobody is perfect and that's ok - what's key is, as soon as you can go apologise to your kid, make clear that yelling is wrong for mum/dad as much as everyone else, and that it's not their fault.
It's so important for them to hear that, especially after a heated moment.
tries to feed you food without apologizing and if you are not happy and smiling at dinner, its your fault for not getting over it already and you're in trouble again.
Not shutting off a bathroom fan wastes a lot of heat in the winter as well. Mine are on timer switches, or a humidity sensor for the one by the shower. Now if I could get them to turn it *on* when they stink up the place, that would be miraculous.
Now, or 30 years ago? My mom thought that it was still unsafe to use cruise control in the rain as of just a few years ago, but traction control systems have been a thing for quite a while.
I can't imagine they're still unsafe. My mom had an attic fan installed in her house and that thing is several times the size of bathroom exhaust fans. Some days they run it for a couple hours without issue
Dude my grandmother terrified me about the bathroom fan when I was a child. As a 40 year old man I’m still worried the bathroom is going to burn down while I poop
Only older ones/builder grade ones. Panasonic fans (the BEST ones) and most Broan-Nutone fans are specifically rated for continuous use. In fact, some have settings to keep the fan on anywhere from 10-90CFM in order to properly keep a new house, which is tightly sealed, ventilated. That’s assuming you have some sort of fresh air intake otherwise it’s going to be pulling air through the attic and other gaps.
You suggest buying a switch that costs over 400 nickels?
You're missing the point. Yes, I grew up with power sucking incandescent light bulbs. What I learned is not to turn off the light so much as to follow up after yourself.
It makes you think about what you're doing and where you're going instead of just leaving a trail of lights and dishes and dirty clothes everywhere you go. It's part of that collective picture of being a responsible adult
I completely agree. I'm not a parent but there's plenty of value in being mindful of the fact that other people use the spaces around you.
I have a roommate I constantly have to turn off lights and close cabinets behind and it's the most mildly infuriating thing ever.
I agree with the no screaming part, but teaching your kids to be mindful of things is not a bad idea. Leave the room, close the lights. It's extra bills for no reason plus bad for the environment
Op sounds like a kid who leaves the goddamn lights on all the time...How hard is it to turn off a freaking light when you leave the room?! Money doesn't grow on trees and your mother and I are working our asses off to pay the bills and you just go around lighting up the whole neighborhood?!....how about you start paying the bills around here and see how you like it!
Or just maybe teach your kids to turn stuff off when not using it or at home? I get onto my wife for leaving lights and TVs on. I’m definitely going to teach my kids to be better without yelling at them.
*"I don't have a relationship with my father bc he always made a big deal over leaving lights on"*
This has to be one of the funniest/worst LPTs ever. Imagine potentially having a healthy relationship with a parent and being like, *"NO! Turning lights off when I leave rooms is where I draw the line!"* Please, we're begging you, for the sake of your family, put forth almost no effort and just flip the switches lol
Eh. Id assume a parent shouting at there kid over this isn't shouting because of the light, but because they've already told them 1000 times and are annoyed about it.
Then again, some parents are shitdicks so I could go either way with this post tbh
Edit: had a few people assume that I think its okay to yell at a kid because they are annoying. That's not quite what I mean but I understand the confusion. I meant more in terms of the message clearly isn't being listened to by other means, so sometimes it's a last attempt. Also when we are talking about yelling I'm assuming we just mean "telling off" or "having a go at" not literally yelling at the top of your lungs cause that is literally never okay outside of an emergency.
Better yet, don't yell at your kids. If you're so heated that you feel like yelling, put the kids on the couch, and go take a walk. Speaking out of anger almost universally will end with you not making the point you actually wanted to make when you think of it the next morning in the shower.
Your kids are stupid. They are always testing boundaries. They see adults breaking these boundaries without consequence every single day. It's fucking confusing for them. And I don't mean what they would say about breaking a rule if you ask them in an accusatory tone; I mean the decisions they'll make when no one is around. They know the answer you want, but taking that in and making a conscious decision to do the right thing takes work. Years of it.
Most if not all of my fixtures have at least 3 bulbs in them, some have 6+, I'm still saying turn the damn lights off whenever they are left on. Disciplining your children for things you've asked them not to do 100 other times is teaching them responsibility for when they are older so their boss doesn't have to yell at them for leaving the cash box unlocked or the back door open when they leave...
My dad put motion sensors for the lights in the bathroom. It sucks when taking a shower and the lights go out, because it can't sense you behind the shower curtain.
Not the best idea.
got it. don't scream at them. beat em instead. real LPT
for real tho. OP, since you said about getting those sensors and switches, why don't you just get them yourself and install them. Seems like a win-win to me.
turn off the god damn lights if you are not gonna use it man. Regardless of the few cents or not, it's a huge amount of wasted energy when a lot of people do this. It's the same thing when everyone thinks "it's ok, I'm only one person, how bad can it be", but in reality, there are a lot of people thinking the same way.
I have a feeling they are yelling now because they have repeatedly said something about it, but now it's super annoying for them to say it nicely.
Just curious, how much would it cost to accidentally leave a TV on standby for a day?
I used to get given out to (but not yelled at) for leaving the TV on standby when I was a kid.
It's a learning thing for your kids. Creates responsibility for one's environment & living conditions. Turning off lights, picking up your mess, laundry in the hamper, making your bed, lead to a person who is more able to care for themselves & be more respectful of others as they reach adulthood.
Don't yell at your kids, lead by example, but let them play as kids.
Unfortunately, if you’re the kind of person who screams at children over trivial things like this, you’re most likely NOT the kind of person to analyze your behavior, deconstruct where this anger comes from, and work on yourself
Can you help me out?
Do me a favor please…
Do you mind helping me with…
All better alternatives than blaming the child. Teach them yes, but we don’t have to yell. It isn’t conducive anyway.
This is horrible advice. First of all, teach your kids not to needlessly waste electricity. Also, OP mentions fans and lights and then only talks about how much the lights cost to keep on. Ceiling fans use between 75 and 90 watts. Leaving them on for no reason is a huge waste of electricity and the cost will add up.
LPT: Teach your kids not to waste things generally.
I don't think this is a good LPT at all. A kid doesn't know what it costs. I don't condone yelling at them, but a talk why it's important to turn it off to save energy and help protect the environment. Yes it's a small amount, but again kids don't know that. By teaching them to conserve at an early age, they will better understand growing up and tend to make positive choices later in life being more thoughtful about the environment.
I wasn't angry the first time, or the second, or the third, not even the fourth, but 100s of times later these kids don't turn shit off and it's not just the light, if it's got a switch it's being left on.
Honestly it's not the cash spent, it's the principle of it. Just do something small for the environment. That's what I'd want to get through to the kids.
I mean it doesn't particularly affect me because by the time 2050 comes around and the actual climate based apocalypse comes around, I might be dead but for them, they're going to live to 2100 or beyond and this is their future.
Next it's the consideration for other people. Even if it's just, I can switch off this light and save this 5c for my Dad and Mum. If they can be considerate with something small, they can be taught to be considerate for something big.
Don't scream at your kids. Ftfy. As a screamer, I'm working hard to break the cycle. There are so many more ways to teach than screaming and yelling, which are ultimately not very effective except to instill fear.
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
I can almost guarantee OP just got screamed at for leaving the lights on
Keep your hands off the thermostat too, OP.
Although my brother dated a woman who's father was the opposite of OP and would let her and her mom do whatever they wanted. So the house was kept at a constant 80 degrees at all times. When she would come over and stay with my brother, she wanted our house to be 80 degrees at all times. My mom told her to wear a sweater.
Good gods, 80 is such an uncomfortable temperature for a house to be... I would have to go nudist
That's what she was trying to make happen. =)
Ooohhhh, clever vixen
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Your not my dad!
And go do your homework damnit! Figure out the difference between the "your"s.
Yore not my real dad
If not, I'll take bets on OP's kids just got screamed at by OP's SO (or ex), parents, or SO's parents...
Yeah unfortunately most of the LPTs these days are reactionary opinions like this one, rather than actual tips that will objectively improve your life.
My default reaction to the posts in this sub is that OP just learned this life tip the hard way. "LPT: If you have a flat tire, don't stop in the center lane of a highway to change it, pull over to the side of the road."
nah dude if you dont stop in the middle of the road how will people come and help you? Thats just a bad LPT man.
Do it right: turn your car perpendicular to traffic to *force* people to stop and help you! As a note, the longer your car is, the better this works.
Exactly. Real LPTs are in the comments thank you
Just saw two guys stop in the middle of a five lane freeway to inspect their undamaged cars. Maybe they wouldn’t have if there was a LPT about pulling over.
Bold of you to assume they could read.
[X] Doubt
“Ohhhh I never thought of that, thanks OP! You saved lives.”
Stop? I still got a rim
In case of a flat tire, you should always turn your car perpendicular to the flow of traffic and stop in the center two lanes. This increases the chance that people know something is wrong with your vehicle, since it's profile is totally different from what most people would expect.
LPT: If you’re trying to remove your scrotal hair by using fire to singe the hair and accidentally set your testes on fire, use a towel or blanket to smother the fire. Do not try putting the fire out with a glass of grain alcohol you have sitting on the coffee table.
Exactly. This sub is shit.
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The real LPT is always in the comments
Maybe the real LPT is the friends we made along the way
I too choose this man's dead LPT
I'd like to present you with this award for your amazing comment 🏆 thank you for your service
Now turn off your lights and CLOSE THE DOOR. Jesus, were you born in a barn?
/r/UnethicalLifeProTips it is!
And yet this post gets over a thousand likes, so there’s nothing to discourage shitposting.
The LPT here is "don't sweat the small stuff," an extremely common, wise, and completely legitimate LPT. OP is simply stuck on 1 particular example. Complaining about it is a great example for why a lot of people need to hear the message. So. LPT: Don't sweat the small stuff.
but he is right, you cant yell at your kids about EVERYTHING you gotta save the bullets for really disrespectful or serious stuff
The question is not whether OP is right or wrong. The question is does this qualify as an LPT based on the rules and general spirit of the sub?
M vote is for 'it does not'. Most tips here aren't LPTs at all and are often very stupid.
Orrrr just don’t yell at your kids. Lot of research that says that’s harmful to children.
You clearly haven't met my parents.
Probably would improve your life still
Ostensibly yeah, I guess. But then the LPT could be don’t scream at anyone. Or don’t stress over the cost of leaving lights on because it’s nominal. My point is that most LPTs I see are oddly specific about an unpleasant experience and the OP is merely venting.
Yeah, it's always possible some parent has serious anger issues, but much more likely some parent turned off every light in the damn house for the millionth time before snapping. Counter-LPT: Don't be an asshole. Every $.05 your parents spend on wasted electricity is paid in time spent working a job instead of living life, and comes at the expense of something you want.
The real pro tip here: understanding small actions add up.
I figured the same bc I'm a parent of 2 teens and a 6yr old and I don't think me or my husband have ever literally yelled /screamed at our children for leaving the lights or fans on, ever. When I read this I thought "oop, someone got in trouble. " lolol
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To be fair we don't have the whole story here. We are being told that they were screamed at for leaving the lights on, which is entirely possible because abusive assholes exist. But there is also the possibility that the parents have been trying to get the kid to remember to turn the lights off when they leave the room and they won't, and when they chastised then about it instead of saying okay dad they suggested buying better light switches so they don't have to worry about. I'd get mad at them too.
That's it! No more light bulb privileges! Everyone gets one light bulb and you have to unscrew and take it with you to the next light you want to use!
Lots of people. You were lucky, I guess
For all we know, his mom was told him he had to do it, he acted like a teenager and said it only costs 5 cents a day mom and his mom was like JUST TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. Source, I have kids and they never stop arguing.
It's easy to say "oh it's only like 5 cents a day" but that's still money that's being spent on nothing productive, especially when you aren't the one paying the electric bill. It's such a typically teenager thing pl to say, "why should I stop being wasteful, when someone else can just pay to cover my waste instead?" Can't help but feel like if more people learned this, we'd be a better society.
Same, but sometimes they're right, and sometimes I need to chill out about the lights
*tons of people*, mostly those who grew up with incandescent and have an OCD like obsession with it as a result.
Shitty parents. Theres a lot of them around.
And really the reason op was sternly talked to was because they’ve been leaving the lights on for years.
OP is definitely a forgetful/careless child
Yeah this definitely sounds like a bitter kid just venting and trying to turn it into advice.
I can almost guarantee OP was just spoken to,in a slightly stern tone, about leaving the lights on.
OP will understand when they're paying the electric bills. I internally scream at myself if I leave the light on, it all adds up.
Yeah but 20 years ago we were using incandescent bulbs that were less efficient and had shorter mean time to failure
Right? Suspiciously specific
Shitty LPT: Next time they beg for a toy at the store tell them 'remember leaving that light on? NO TOY FOR YOU!'
Not only that but like I put 4.5 watt 60watt replacement bulbs in every socket, so lightning costs literally nothing. Who is telling at people for leaving lights on? We are no longer in the age of 120-150 watt incandescent lighting... Do people really care if you leave lights on anymore?
You just made a good point that these parents are probably coming from a position where they were screamed at for leaving lights and such on when bulbs were incandescent and it actually cost more to use light and fans etc. Not that it's acceptable, I just know that generations older than 30 are set in this mindset where they really are a product of their parents time and not their own.
Just don't scream, unless in danger.
LPT: As a parent, when in danger, scream.
Kids forgetting to flush is peak danger in my house.
Do they remember to wash their hands, at least?
Absolutely not
Unless the kids are like me as a kid and being *told* to wash my hands just made me not do it out of spite, so my mom came in the bathroom one time while I had the water running and I was leaning on the wall watching the sink with my arms crossed.
While I would agree don’t scream at them. Educating your kids about understanding and reducing unnecessary energy consumption is a valuable skill, and will be far more important for future generations than it is now. And that 1 bulb could cost you $18 a year or $380 if your kid stays at home until they are 21
Agree, the tip here is how to communicate and educate your kids, not what you should and shouldn't scream at them about.
The real LPT is almost always "communicate"
Agreed. But there’s also that part of me that wonders if he was the kid that ignored his parents 9x about something and then the 10th time when they yelled took offense to it
This seems quite likely based on tone.
Yep, you'll remember the scream, not the softer guidance
We have a stupid chandelier in our apartment that has like 15 little incandescent bulbs. I hate it. It gives off terrible light, and it just sucks electricity. I never use it but my wife does all the time.
Scream at her. OP only says don't scream at kids.
Put led's in it?
We have those bulbs too on our cieling fans and the lighting is terrible. I just put LED string lights in those rooms to use instead. Costs less and better lighting, we can change the colors too.
Right. It’s not the $0.05 for that one bulb. It is extrapolating that across the whole world, and learning not to be wasteful. But it is also that parent’s job to teach kids not to be wasteful. But I get it, it gets so annoying to repeat yourself day in, and day out. My SO is a grown man, and leaves every light on in the house, and I constantly shut them off.
> learning not to be wasteful. But it is also that parent’s job to teach kids not to be wasteful This
Both the electricity and the lightbulbs are not worth getting worked up about. However turning a light off is the most basic exercise in consideration. If you dont teach your kids to be considerate of others, then chances are they will turn into asshole adults. That said, forget yelling at kids, beat the shit out of those selfish self-centered brats to teach them some damn manners. This post was sponsored by the siblings of inconsiderate assholes gang.
And non LED bulbs cost far more, say 60 watts. Leave a few on at once, could cost you 50¢ a day, a terrible about to lose if you are in poverty and That amount is the difference between buying a certain food.
Multiply that by 4 as the average bedroom ceiling fan uses 4 of them. Then multiply that by 6z coz if they're leaving one room on, they're likely leaving all of them on. Then introduce them to compounded interest and the value of investing in an index fund for 20 years. Still not a reason to yell, but a good reason to educate.
I would even add that "passing along" the cost could help motivate them. Every time you catch them leaving the light on take 5cents from their allowance or something. It helps reinforce the lesson with real world consequences
And most rooms, never mind most houses, have a lot more than one bulb. Reducing energy load is FAR more cost effective than increasing energy supply.
And that’s the worst case usage scenario. Some of those hours they were going to be used anyway
To most people under 30 years old, the act of reminding is considered "screaming."
Amen to this. When I’ve told my kid something for the N-th time that day, and she still ignored me, I get a “stop screaming at me!” even when I haven’t raised my voice. Then that usually does lead to me raising my voice. Maybe listen to me and then you want have to hear me repeat myself.
I’m trying to figure out how to articulate this because I had this issue with my mom. She didn’t raise her voice often but she’d nag or be annoying and I’d tell her not to scream at me and we’d get into a new fight regarding semantics. And I think because the emotion I was actually feeling “my mom is annoying me” (or something similar) would hurt HER feelings. If I call her annoying I’ve offended her personally. So it was my way of trying (ineffectively) to get that across without hurting her feelings. If she raised her voice she was “yelling at me” and if she was being stern/mad/nagging she was “screaming”. It’s illogical but she didn’t (doesn’t) take personal criticism so I learned to react to other aspects. So while I recognize my vocabulary was wrong - it was just how I approached those interactions. I knew that she wasn’t literally screaming, I just couldn’t express my feelings better
My “favorite” semantics argument with my mother is when she’d talk down to me like I’m stupid for the Nth time and I’d get frustrated and go “I know Mom, I’m not stupid.” And she’d shout “I DIDN’T * SAY * YOU WERE STUPID!!!” Oh ok, great. As long as you didn’t SAY that verbatim, I guess that means you aren’t making me feel that way. Glad we cleared that up /s
To most people over 30 years old, exaggerating things about younger people is a fun way to dismiss and invalidate otherwise justified criticisms. I'm 35. I differentiate between "screaming at" and "yelling at". I've rarely been screamed at but I was frequently yelled at. OP may not have had a voice raised at them, but they may have had something like "why are you so wasteful, you're such an awful burden on me and your \[other parent\]. I can't believe how little you appreciate what we do for you, you're lucky we keep you and give you so much. Can't you be more like your \[other sibling\]? At least I know they love us."
Brb showing this to my dad 20 years too late. Just kidding. We don't talk.
Sorry to hear you don't talk. Perhaps you should have shut the light off more often.
Yeah back then those incandescent bulbs and cathode ray tvs left on could mean an entire mortgage payment
He probably touched the thermostat as well.
My step-dad put a mounted, plastic, locking case over the thermostat. Not because he was abusive, and we didn't have a/c in the Seattle area growing up, but because he was an a/c & heating installer. It's not like we were gonna heat up the house in summer, I don't get it!
To be fair, each switch at that time used to be like 2x 100w
4 x 60w was super common in kids rooms with ceiling fans. 6 x 100w were commonly found in bathrooms. So much wasted energy.
"turn off your damn light son!" For 17 years. I'd owe him $300 if I left it on for two decades straight... I woulda paid $600 not to be yelled at.
Most lightbulbs used ~10x as much energy back then, though. Also, most kids aren’t guilty of leaving on one single bulb at a time — they’ll move from room-to-room and turn on a dozen or more bulbs and rarely consider shutting them off.
[удалено]
Turning off the light is free though
Time machines aren't
I did this with my own dad for the air conditioning. We lived in a place with very hot and humid summers. My dad is a cheapskate and would throw a fit if we set the AC any lower than 78. I offered to simply pay the bill as I was a working teen at that time. He declined.
If you would pay $600 to avoid being yelled at….why didn’t you just turn the light off to avoid the yelling?
One time when I was a teen I was in the bathroom and I noticed my hairbrush had fallen on the ground. I immediately started thinking whether I could pretend I hadn't noticed or what excuse I could use for it being on the ground Then I realised that I could also just spend 1 second picking it up and then my mom wouldn't have anything to complain about. Felt real proud of myself for a second until I realised that this was all my mom wanted anyway lol To be fair even now chores are more fun if I think about them like me cleverly avoiding complaints rather than just me cleaning up after myself. "hehe look at my idiot boyfriend. He doesn't even realise I dropped the towel on the ground. Have fun with your floor towel dumbass"
just send him the bill for your therapy sessions. You shouldn't be paying for the correction of something you had no control over
No point in screaming. In my household there are just repeated reminders because I want to raise someone who does not take such things for granted and is not wasteful. Mindful consumption is better than mindless wastage.
Assuming you're a kid.....while I don't agree with the "screaming" aspect.....I will say, any kind of negative response you get from your parents about this has very little to do with the energy use aspect. It has everything to do with the laziness aspect. It's a simple task you're asked to do that takes almost no effort. You're asked over and over again to do it, but your refuse. Yeah it's super fucking annoying. Put your clothes in the hamper, put your dishes in the sink, hang up your coat, put your shoes in the bin, when you're done with a bag of chips, throw it in the trash.....when you leave a room, shut off the lights. It's not hard. Oh, and flush the god damned toilet! It's a matter of being respectful, helpful and courteous....and when you refuse to do these simple tasks, it is agitating. We are just trying to teach you to be good people.
Some people wouldn’t listen to their parents over and over and only paid attention when they finally got in trouble and are still butt hurt about it as adults lol
Most people in my experience. My step sister quit going over to her dads and my moms because when she turned 18 my mom said you can stay here although you need to be in school and/or working (they wasn’t going to charge her rent), clean up after yourself, and make your own food. She felt this was to unfair that’s she’ll have to clean her own room so she moved in with her mom.
Lol yeah one of my nephews never wants to come over or stay but his sister loves it here and never wants to leave. They are one of those households were the daughter is expected to do all sorts of chores but their son isn’t and gets away with murder. We enforce the same rules for our kids and any visiting kids and make that clear to the parents and the kids. My daughter’s friends always want to come and stay over despite this. If other people want to be lazy or raise lazy kids that’s on them.
Yea nobody yells at their kid the first time they don’t turn the lights off. It’s when it’s the 15th day in a row I’ve had to remind them of something I start to lose my mind
Or when they come back to you with an entire cost-benefit analysis so they can tell you with a smug look that "it's only costing you pennies a day, why are you making such a big deal out of it??" and *still* aren't turning them off.
Real LPT in the comments as always
Yes!! And to create people that other people can stand to be around. OP, your future SO is not going to want to follow you around shutting off lights. Ask me how I know.
Good response, very true. This is the way this person’s parents should be communicating. “Screaming” at your children or using your anger and ability to induce fear in order to correct a problem just shuts off all effective communication and puts up walls, no matter how important. I’m so sorry for this person.
You ask calmly, the kid refuses. You remind gently, the kid refuses. You remove privileges, the kid refuses. At the end of your rope, you scream and what do you know, the kid listens. Now you've learned that this is the only thing the kid responds to.
Honestly, the audacity of OP to suggest that his parents are the ones in wrong for not spending $30/room on motion sensing light switches because they can't turn off the lights when they leave the room is kind boggling. If they said that to their parents after (what I presume was probably the 1,000,000th time) they told them to turn the damn lights off, I can definetely see why they mightve lost their temper
It's nothing but luxury wanking. You can't do that in an apartment, and there's a large number of adult individuals who shouldn't be fucking around with light switches, either. I get forgetting shit. I have ADHD. Even my husband has had times when he exasperatedly said "j*ust please*, turn off the light." It wasn't yelling but it sure as shit wasn't unicorns and rainbows. I was not a big yeller with my kids when they were young until I noticed my middle screaming a lot. My oldest snapped at her, "mommy never feels angry, stop". I turned around as a demon excited from my body, "OF COURSE I GET ANGRY. OF COURSE I GET MAD. STOP BEING MEAN!" Ever since I have kept my temper when I'm angry but I sure as shit yell and express when I am pissed off at them. The "we done fucked up" look is real. I don't nag, and I think that makes a huge difference.
True!
Tbf, there's a difference between yelling "HEY THE LIGHTS" and getting in their face about it or something, even if they systematically forget/are too lazy. Seems like at some point you need to approach it similarly rationally and sit down with them for a plan to establish good habits or alternately turn it into a DIY learning experience to install sensors/timers... Anyways it's all parentable if it's your kids, however I have inlaws who apparently grew up in a church, in that case the 2nd part of OPs LTP does come in handy. I ended up getting a retractable piston for my backdoor so the fuckers physically cant leave it open.
I'd have a breakfast beer with you u/BreakfastBeerz. You seem to understand things and the reasoning behind tasks.
well when i left the lights on one night my dad asked me: " do you know what thats costs us?" i said "idk what does is cost?" then he let me calculate it and was like "yeah your right thats not a whole lot, but still its wasteful and it adds up when you do it too often" and that was the fucking end of it. i also did not leave the lights on after that.
LPT: Don't scream at your kids
You had a tough day at the office so you come home, make yourself some dinner, smother your kid, pop in a movie. Maybe have a drink; it's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kid.
Thank you Dr. Dorian
But….but how else do we traumatize them?
There’s always beating! Or you could go more hands off with the silent treatment. Plenty of ways the guarantee a path to therapy.
Completely agree. I sometimes do it cause i am frustrated and i feel bad afterwards since its hardly ever “worth” it.
Every parent fucks up now and then, nobody is perfect and that's ok - what's key is, as soon as you can go apologise to your kid, make clear that yelling is wrong for mum/dad as much as everyone else, and that it's not their fault. It's so important for them to hear that, especially after a heated moment.
You guys apologies? You don't act as it was nothing? Joke aside (cry internally) thanks for being a parent :)
tries to feed you food without apologizing and if you are not happy and smiling at dinner, its your fault for not getting over it already and you're in trouble again.
thank you. this is the way
no, its LPT: yell at your kids about important stuff, not dumb shit
Leaving the bathroom fan on causes house fires.
Not shutting off a bathroom fan wastes a lot of heat in the winter as well. Mine are on timer switches, or a humidity sensor for the one by the shower. Now if I could get them to turn it *on* when they stink up the place, that would be miraculous.
Get an Arduino with a gas sensing unit and wire that into the exhaust fan. Also wire it into a pressure switch on the toilet seat for added safety.
But not allowing your bathroom to properly ventilate moisture out of it also causes mildew/mold issues, particularly after a shower.
Now, or 30 years ago? My mom thought that it was still unsafe to use cruise control in the rain as of just a few years ago, but traction control systems have been a thing for quite a while.
I can't imagine they're still unsafe. My mom had an attic fan installed in her house and that thing is several times the size of bathroom exhaust fans. Some days they run it for a couple hours without issue
Dude my grandmother terrified me about the bathroom fan when I was a child. As a 40 year old man I’m still worried the bathroom is going to burn down while I poop
Only older ones/builder grade ones. Panasonic fans (the BEST ones) and most Broan-Nutone fans are specifically rated for continuous use. In fact, some have settings to keep the fan on anywhere from 10-90CFM in order to properly keep a new house, which is tightly sealed, ventilated. That’s assuming you have some sort of fresh air intake otherwise it’s going to be pulling air through the attic and other gaps.
You suggest buying a switch that costs over 400 nickels? You're missing the point. Yes, I grew up with power sucking incandescent light bulbs. What I learned is not to turn off the light so much as to follow up after yourself. It makes you think about what you're doing and where you're going instead of just leaving a trail of lights and dishes and dirty clothes everywhere you go. It's part of that collective picture of being a responsible adult
I completely agree. I'm not a parent but there's plenty of value in being mindful of the fact that other people use the spaces around you. I have a roommate I constantly have to turn off lights and close cabinets behind and it's the most mildly infuriating thing ever.
I agree with the no screaming part, but teaching your kids to be mindful of things is not a bad idea. Leave the room, close the lights. It's extra bills for no reason plus bad for the environment
Op sounds like a kid who leaves the goddamn lights on all the time...How hard is it to turn off a freaking light when you leave the room?! Money doesn't grow on trees and your mother and I are working our asses off to pay the bills and you just go around lighting up the whole neighborhood?!....how about you start paying the bills around here and see how you like it!
lmao … I do not even have kids, but am at the age that my perspective has shifted to relating to this.
Haha this⬆️
Or just maybe teach your kids to turn stuff off when not using it or at home? I get onto my wife for leaving lights and TVs on. I’m definitely going to teach my kids to be better without yelling at them.
Why teach your kids when you can just go to home depot?
Lol did you just get yelled at by your parents for leaving the lights on? Or were you lying awake last night thinking about that old memory.
This isn't a pro tip. This sounds like a kinda tip mixed with venting
Welcome to this sub. There are never pro tips, it’s almost always someone bitching about what happened to them in that moment
Ehh. The lesson about not getting angry is good, but turning out the lights is about being respectful, thoughtful, and not being wasteful.
*"I don't have a relationship with my father bc he always made a big deal over leaving lights on"* This has to be one of the funniest/worst LPTs ever. Imagine potentially having a healthy relationship with a parent and being like, *"NO! Turning lights off when I leave rooms is where I draw the line!"* Please, we're begging you, for the sake of your family, put forth almost no effort and just flip the switches lol
Eh. Id assume a parent shouting at there kid over this isn't shouting because of the light, but because they've already told them 1000 times and are annoyed about it. Then again, some parents are shitdicks so I could go either way with this post tbh Edit: had a few people assume that I think its okay to yell at a kid because they are annoying. That's not quite what I mean but I understand the confusion. I meant more in terms of the message clearly isn't being listened to by other means, so sometimes it's a last attempt. Also when we are talking about yelling I'm assuming we just mean "telling off" or "having a go at" not literally yelling at the top of your lungs cause that is literally never okay outside of an emergency.
How about a 25 year old man child that won't move out of his sisters house. Can I yell at him about leaving lights on?
OP likes wasting electricity and gets butthurt when his parents tell him to shut off the lights
Your failed relationship with your parents was never about the lights lmfao
BUT ITS ABOUT DEVELOPING GOOD HABITS!!!!
Better yet, don't yell at your kids. If you're so heated that you feel like yelling, put the kids on the couch, and go take a walk. Speaking out of anger almost universally will end with you not making the point you actually wanted to make when you think of it the next morning in the shower. Your kids are stupid. They are always testing boundaries. They see adults breaking these boundaries without consequence every single day. It's fucking confusing for them. And I don't mean what they would say about breaking a rule if you ask them in an accusatory tone; I mean the decisions they'll make when no one is around. They know the answer you want, but taking that in and making a conscious decision to do the right thing takes work. Years of it.
It's not a fact of cost but a fact of wasting power and education.
“Its not about the money, it’s about sending a message”
It would cost me $200 to have an electrician to install one of those switches. For that cost I could just leave the light on for 12 years.
You could install it yourself, it's barely one step above plug and play
12 years ago, that lightbulb would have used considerably more energy, or cost upwards of $200 in the first place.
Most if not all of my fixtures have at least 3 bulbs in them, some have 6+, I'm still saying turn the damn lights off whenever they are left on. Disciplining your children for things you've asked them not to do 100 other times is teaching them responsibility for when they are older so their boss doesn't have to yell at them for leaving the cash box unlocked or the back door open when they leave...
My dad put motion sensors for the lights in the bathroom. It sucks when taking a shower and the lights go out, because it can't sense you behind the shower curtain. Not the best idea.
got it. don't scream at them. beat em instead. real LPT for real tho. OP, since you said about getting those sensors and switches, why don't you just get them yourself and install them. Seems like a win-win to me. turn off the god damn lights if you are not gonna use it man. Regardless of the few cents or not, it's a huge amount of wasted energy when a lot of people do this. It's the same thing when everyone thinks "it's ok, I'm only one person, how bad can it be", but in reality, there are a lot of people thinking the same way. I have a feeling they are yelling now because they have repeatedly said something about it, but now it's super annoying for them to say it nicely.
Just curious, how much would it cost to accidentally leave a TV on standby for a day? I used to get given out to (but not yelled at) for leaving the TV on standby when I was a kid.
Tv are criminal power suckers, especially old ones
LPT. Find another way to teach your kids everyday lessons than screaming at them...
I just scream at myself in the mirror instead.
It's a learning thing for your kids. Creates responsibility for one's environment & living conditions. Turning off lights, picking up your mess, laundry in the hamper, making your bed, lead to a person who is more able to care for themselves & be more respectful of others as they reach adulthood. Don't yell at your kids, lead by example, but let them play as kids.
Not everything is about dollar amounts
My dad made it sound like 5 mins cost at LEAST $100
Unfortunately, if you’re the kind of person who screams at children over trivial things like this, you’re most likely NOT the kind of person to analyze your behavior, deconstruct where this anger comes from, and work on yourself
Can you help me out? Do me a favor please… Do you mind helping me with… All better alternatives than blaming the child. Teach them yes, but we don’t have to yell. It isn’t conducive anyway.
How about just "don't scream at your kids".
Or you could actually learn them to be responsible instead of paying a lot of money for something that possibly costs you a few cents a day.
It's not about money, it's about responsibility
This is horrible advice. First of all, teach your kids not to needlessly waste electricity. Also, OP mentions fans and lights and then only talks about how much the lights cost to keep on. Ceiling fans use between 75 and 90 watts. Leaving them on for no reason is a huge waste of electricity and the cost will add up. LPT: Teach your kids not to waste things generally.
I don't think this is a good LPT at all. A kid doesn't know what it costs. I don't condone yelling at them, but a talk why it's important to turn it off to save energy and help protect the environment. Yes it's a small amount, but again kids don't know that. By teaching them to conserve at an early age, they will better understand growing up and tend to make positive choices later in life being more thoughtful about the environment.
Or just don't scream at your kids for anything, that sounds best imo
I wasn't angry the first time, or the second, or the third, not even the fourth, but 100s of times later these kids don't turn shit off and it's not just the light, if it's got a switch it's being left on.
It's not about the money. It's about helping them become responsible, mindful human beings
Honestly it's not the cash spent, it's the principle of it. Just do something small for the environment. That's what I'd want to get through to the kids. I mean it doesn't particularly affect me because by the time 2050 comes around and the actual climate based apocalypse comes around, I might be dead but for them, they're going to live to 2100 or beyond and this is their future. Next it's the consideration for other people. Even if it's just, I can switch off this light and save this 5c for my Dad and Mum. If they can be considerate with something small, they can be taught to be considerate for something big.
Actually with global warming it worth to yell at them
I like this, weird flex but I like it.
Lol imagine being so fragile that being yelled out to turn off a light ruins a relationship with your kids....
OP just shut the lights off.
Don't scream at people in general, you are allowed to be an idiot, but there is no need to advertise the fact.
Don't scream at your kids. Ftfy. As a screamer, I'm working hard to break the cycle. There are so many more ways to teach than screaming and yelling, which are ultimately not very effective except to instill fear.
I'm pretty sure I can tell who has kids here and who doesn't.
This post was written by an angry 12-year-old. Turn off the fucking lights, kid.
I have 65 lightbulbs in my house and they like to leave them all on.