You've Been Warned: Leaving Your Porch Light On All Night Will Cost You

Outdoor lighting is a staple of modern living spaces. Whether you live in a sprawling home or an apartment with a balcony, illuminating your home's outdoor spaces can allow you to use them more fully. Porch or patio lighting, in particular, can be a major enhancement — ensuring your outdoor spaces are ideal for hosting parties or any other gatherings. This lighting can also ensure your outdoor space is a nice place to unwind at the end of the day, especially when the weather is warm and sunny. While outdoor features can be a selling point for would-be buyers or renters, it's worth noting that extravagant outdoor patio upgrades can be a home upgrade you ultimately regret, especially if you're thinking about selling your home soon.

With that said, the lighting devices you deploy around the perimeter of your home can actually be a financial drain in another way as well. Many homeowners today leave on one or more outdoor lights long into the night (or perhaps even all night). This thinking revolves around the idea that a wall of light surrounding your home acts as something of a psychological moat. With the entry points lit up, a burglar would have to present themselves in full view of the neighborhood when attempting to gain entry. Moreover, if your light is on the chances are higher that you are at home, which can be another crime deterrent. However, the actual security value of your porch lights is spotty at best. As a result, the financial commitment isn't likely worth the effort.

Every light you use around the house costs money. There's the direct cost of replacing the bulb, and then the addition of its use to your electricity bill. If you're running traditional, incandescent bulbs around the house, they'll last roughly 750 to 2,000 hours. This means that if you leave your bulbs on all night, you're looking at a nearly 12-hour illumination period which translates into nearly 4,500 hours of yearly illumination demand. That's roughly three to four bulbs — one pack — or about $10 per fixture, annually. Just that cost alone could be enough to make you consider some frugal spending tips.

Then there's the electricity cost. On the low end of the spectrum, you can expect to pay roughly $20 per year per each individual light bulb. However, high end estimates place this cost at just under $45. If you opt for LED bulbs, your cost per bulb increases, but the price to run the device is minimized to about $7.50 per bulb for the year. For a typical home with lights around the façade and patio area of the back yard, there can easily be as many as eight to 10 individual light fixtures drawing power just outside alone. Leaving each of them on would mean a cost of somewhere between roughly $100 to $550 per year. Even at the low end, this is money that could be better used elsewhere.