Christmas time is the time when you see most houses lit up from the outside. People hang xmas lights from their patios, gutters, on their bushes and even from trees in their yard. Some people even string them in patterns along their roofs. Then there are those who go all out to try to outdo their neighbors. They spend hundreds of dollars on as many Christmas lights as they can afford with the hopes that their house will be the most lavishly decorated this Christmas season. Some neighborhoods even hold contests over whose house is the best decorated. However, there is a drawback to all this. More lights are not necessarily better when you consider the electric bill that will likely come in the mail.

Rising Electricity Costs

Energy costs are continuously rising. For this reason, most people are opting for less Christmas lights this year. They will still have lights, they just won’t go as wild as they usually would. The fact is Christmas is about giving. It’s about loving one another and celebrating the fact that we have people to spend the Christmas season with. Christmas isn’t about who has more Christmas lights in their yard or whose yard is the most lit up. Having more lights in your yard just means that you’re going to get a higher electric bill in the mail than your neighbors.

Another drawback to having many lights in your yard is that most people leave those lights on all night. This can become very troublesome for your neighbors who have to try and sleep with all that illumination coming in through their windows. How would you like it if someone shined a spotlight in your window all night while you were trying to sleep? Chances are you wouldn’t like it very much.

Christmas lights are only one way to show your Christmas spirit. There are other decorations you can buy and many don’t even require electricity. If you wish, get some battery powered decorations. They won’t suck up energy like Christmas lights do, but they will still do wonders for you yard.

Christmas lights are a great way to show your Christmas spirit but going overboard can easily eat a chunk into your pocket book. They eat up a lot of electricity and they likely cause your neighbors to lose valued sleep time. So, this Christmas, try to find decorations that don’t require electricity. Your neighbors will thank you for it and your family will too with all the extra presents you can buy with the money that normally would have gone to the electric company.