Holiday Lighting

After an incredible Thanksgiving celebration you finally feel ready to turn your home into holiday central - trees, ornaments, holly, mistletoe, menorahs. Then after digging through your storage you find that all of the ornaments and decorations are intact, but the essential holiday lights are once again a tangled mess - despite how carefully you put them away last year - and, to top it off, they’re not even working! It seems like the same thing year after year.

You’ve probably heard of LED holiday lights but you might not have given it a second thought. However, did you know that they use up to 90% less energy than outdated incandescent bulbs? While that can seriously lower your electric bill, the pros of LED holiday lights don’t stop there. They are extremely easy to install and they can connect without any hassle. You can string up to twenty-four strands together, enough to do a lot of decorating, while only needing one wall socket. Also, they typically last about ten times longer than your regular lights, they don’t have filaments, and they’re not made of glass, so you don’t have to worry about any part of them breaking, making them less of a hazard all around. LED lights don’t get hot to the touch like the old lights do, which means you can rest easy knowing they’re less of a fire or burn hazard.

Hopefully, by now you're convinced that you need LED holiday lights this year, but just in case you are still debating, you can go check out your neighborhood hardware or department stores to see if they offer ENERGY STAR^® Qualified Decorative Light Strings. These lights are designed to save energy and money, and they come in all shapes and colors!

Now that we’ve got you thinking about decorations, here are a few bonus tips to make sure you have a gorgeous home while saving as much energy and cash as you can:

Timers:

Light timers are a great idea for your holiday light show. You want to make sure your house stands out for all the right reasons, so set your timers to go on around the time you get home from work and make sure you set them to turn off around the time you usually go to bed or a couple hours later. Setting a timer means you don’t have to worry about forgetting to turn the lights on or off, and your home will always shine even if you're out at your holiday office party. It also means you won't be using more energy than necessary because the lights will turn off each night on their own.

Decorations:

Remember, lights aren’t everything! Sure they are beautiful and fun to look at, but you can't forget about the tinsel, the ribbons, the wreaths, the garlands, and the traditional candle menorahs as well as reflective ones. Use your imagination, and create a winter wonderland with more than just lights. That way you save energy and money, while standing out from the neighbors!

For more information and tips on how to save energy year-round visit www.masssave.com/blog.