Wanting to grow older is one of the stupidest wishes most of us had as kids. Being a grown up isn’t fun, it just looks like fun when you watch other people do it, because you don’t see all the dull, behind-the-scenes they do like paying rent, bills and working their butts off to make ends meet. When you start making your own money, you suddenly have to know how to be financially responsible, which I assure you – it’s hard and it sucks.
Fortunately, with enough time and trial and error, you’ll get a grip on it. You won’t always go for the most appealing solutions to your problems, but the most functional ones that might cost more initially, but will pay out in the long run. And that’s what being an adult is, investing in yourself and in items that will pay off in the long run. Boring things really, like investing into retirement funds, or residential Led lights instead of cheap incandescent bulbs.
I mentioned residential Led lights because this decision alone has saved me much money over the past couple of years. I was discussing my high electricity bills with a friend, who was shocked by how high they were. He started asking me questions like what type of lights do I use, do I the TV or PC running when I’m not using them, and so on. He then went on telling me about the amazing benefits LED bulbs provide.
First off, LED bulbs have an incredibly long lifespan, often times as long as 100.000 working hours. This translates in about 11 years of continuous, or 22 years of 50% operation. On average, we use home lighting for about 8 hours (sometimes much less), which means it’ll take more than 20 years before you will need to consider replacing them.
Next, they’re very energy efficient. This is probably why most people buy them. They have an estimated efficiency of about 80% to 90% when compared to conventional light bulbs. In other words, most of the electrical energy they consume is converted to light. This also means that there is barely any heat produced by them, and since we live in Australia, that’s pretty swell.
And lastly, they’re very environmentally friendly. They emit close to zero UV rays, which makes them suitable for illuminating UV sensitive objects. They also don’t emit toxic chemicals, like most conventional light bulbs do. Moreover, they’re recyclable and help reduce your carbon footprint, making them the perfect solution for environmentally conscious people like myself.