Do you leave outdoor lights on all night?

pattymctatty

Just wondering. We do - I guess it's sort of a habit. When we lived in Indiana we left them on all night because our neighborhood was so dark and we lived in a college town so there were people out seemingly at all hours of the night. AND someone tried to break in to our house when I was IN the house, so we started leaving them on for safety (kind of false security.. but whatever).

Here, our neighborhood is dark at night, even with the streetlight being three doors down. We put up solar lights to light the walkways and we leave our house light on. It seems like some of our neighbors leave lights on all night and others do not.

What do you do? Do you leave the outdoor lights on for a reason? 

BlinkMe182

The last person home turns off the outside light. We do not keep it on all night unless by accident.

** One night a year, the anniversary of Jacob Wetterlings Kidnapping we leave it on all night long in rememberance

mplsbride31

We do, but because we've had our car broken into and our backyard with the alley where we park our car is super dark. I don't know how much it helps, but I figure it can't hurt.

strength

i would like to leave them on because i do think it deters kids at least but lars always shuts them off. some battles are just not worth fighting.

Lauree1183

We live in a townhome community and every unit's exterior light right next to the garage has a light sensor on it and stays on all night.  We like this, it provides a very well lit neighborhood and makes it seem very welcoming. 

We do not leave any of our other outdoor lights on though. 

Janell's Nest

When we lived in South St. Paul I left it on when ever DH was out of town for security reason's partly because I never felt safe in the house especially since the cars were broken into twice and the garage once in the 3 years we lived down there.  When DH was home he'd shut the lights off.

Whitman_Poe

We have motion lights so if there is any movement they will come on. Our street is dark so I like having them come on when I get home and I also hope they will deter the kids who stole our lions before we had the motion lights.

bmcapra

We turn them off after we let the dogs out for the last time at night. It is a very rare ocassion that we leave them on all night.

BJKL

We do not because sometimes our neighbors will and it shines right into our bedroom and is a major pain if we are trying to sleep with the windows open.  I guess I would depend on how bright it is...

GermanGirl2007

Lauree1183:

We live in a townhome community and every unit's exterior light right next to the garage has a light sensor on it and stays on all night.  We like this, it provides a very well lit neighborhood and makes it seem very welcoming. 

We do not leave any of our other outdoor lights on though. 

This.  Also, we put solar lights out in front along the patio.  We don't have any street lights in our neighborhood, so I like that this provides a little bit of light.  I sometimes let the dog out late at night, and it makes me feel a little bit more comfortable that some lights are on.

pourroni

We turn ours off after we let our dog out for the last time. Our neighbor mentioned the light shines brightly into his home, so out of respect we keep it off at night.  We are the 2nd house in from the corner where the street light is so our home is well lit, but our street can get very dark.

littlemissflip

We actually don't have any outside lights, but if we did, we'd turn them off at night.  We are lucky to have a cute street lamp in front of our house, so there's always a bit of light out there anyway. 

Sometimes when my husband's out of town, or if i'm house sitting for other people, I will leave a light on downstairs or on the front porch.  It's completely irrational, but I sometimes have an overactive imagination when I'm sleeping by myself, and so leaving a light on helps me feel safer, even though it's silly.

A couple years back there was a study that showed nighttime crime was actually higher at businesses that left parking lights on all night, as opposed to those that turned them off.  Light allows criminals to see too, I guess   Not sure how that translates to a residential setting though.

MrsAshley16

We don't leave any lights on. We have sensor lights in the backyard, and that's about it. We have a street light in our front yard, and solar lights up the walk way, other than that, we don't leave anything on.

NorCalMrs.

bmcapra:

We turn them off after we let the dogs out for the last time at night. It is a very rare ocassion that we leave them on all night.

This is what we do too.

wittyschaffy

I tend to leave the lights on over the doors at night but thats all.  DH and I are going to invest in some new lighting for our garage/alley though because it is D.A.R.K. back there and we've had some issues with vandalism.

mbgreenwalt

I've always turned them off.  I try to keep my gas/elec bill to a minimum.  We are on a corner and there are 2 street lamps at our intersection.

Eri Paige

It is an on going battle. I think it is rude to keep our out door light on because it shines into our neighbors windows (they shut the blinds but I still find it rude) while my husband likes to have it on at all times incase anyone wants to sneak into our house and rob something they wont because they will think we are home. 

lefty8881

We leave them on all night long.  I do feel a little bad because we live pretty close to the house next door and it shines in his windows but it makes me feel so much safer to leave it on.

chaoticmum

Our end of the street doesn't have a lamppost like the middle and opposite end of the street does, so I do leave the outside light on. I feel safer that way.

littlemissflip

Eri Paige:

It is an on going battle. I think it is rude to keep our out door light on because it shines into our neighbors windows (they shut the blinds but I still find it rude) while my husband likes to have it on at all times incase anyone wants to sneak into our house and rob something they wont because they will think we are home. 

I agree with you!  Our neighbors sometimes leave the light over their garage on in the evening, and it's SO BRIGHT--it floods glaring white light through our backyard and into two different windows of our house.  I really hate it--it's like light pollution.  Fortunately, they don't leave it on very often, so it's not a big deal...