Deal Seeking Mom

Shopping for LED Light Bulbs + Win a $50 The Home Depot GC!

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I asked you all last week what your favorite benefit of LED light bulbs is, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that the longevity of them came in first. But the facts that they’re mercury-free, glass-free, don’t give off heat, and use far less electricity were all mentioned repeatedly as well. And check out those savings pictured above!

These were all benefits that I was also excited about, so I was really looking forward to shopping at The Home Depot to check out the selection and learn more from an expert. They provided me with some tips to review before we went shopping.

Shopping for LED light bulbs:

  • Identify Your Fixture Type: With so many bulbs to choose from, it’s important to educate yourself about your fixture and lighting needs before you make a purchase. Light fixtures can dramatically alter the look of a room, so be aware of where shadows will fall and how that will affect the atmosphere. To ensure safety, and the maximum life of your bulb, review the information on the package to be sure you have selected the correct bulb shape for your light fixture.
  • Choose Your Desired Brightness: Watts, a measurement of power, is a common way traditional light bulbs are identified (ex: 60-watt, 75-watt and 100-watt bulbs). Since CFL and LED bulbs use less energy than traditional bulbs, be sure to look at the measurement of light output, known as lumens, instead of watts to select the right bulb.
  • Understanding Color Temperature and Intensity: When selecting an LED light, choose a color of light that suits the mood and activity taking place in your room.

With these tips in mind, we made a quick tour of our downstairs fixtures to assess our lighting needs and then headed out to The Home Depot. Upon our arrival we first had to grab one of the infamous Home Depot race car carts of course…

And then we were met by EJ, our local Home Depot Master Trade Specialist. He was extremely knowledgeable about the LED light bulbs and also shared a number of other tips for decreasing the energy consumption in our home. I never knew there was such a thing as a water heater timer! Definitely something we need to check out further.

I was impressed at the large selection of light bulbs carried by our local store. We have a few fixtures that call for some unusual sized bulbs, but The Home Depot has an even larger selection of LED light bulbs online.

EJ made finding the LED light bulbs we needed a snap, and we filled our cart and checked out in record time. The real challenge was prying the kiddos our of their hot rod to head home.

Next week I’ll share the installation process and hopefully whether we’ve been able to see any savings on our electric bill. But in the meantime, you can win a $50 gift card to The Home Depot!

To enter: Just leave a comment! Do you have any lighting fixtures that call for an unusual size light bulb or wattage? If so, were you able to find a suitable LED light bulb on HomeDepot.com?

This giveaway will close at noon EST on 1/21/11.

The Home Depot works with bloggers such as myself to conduct product reviews. They do not tell bloggers what to say about their products or how to say it. THD fundamentally believes that people should be free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot often provides product – free of charge – to bloggers for review as they did for this post. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. LabRat

    I haven’t really looked at LED lighting but now I will. I have been phasing out the incadescents in my house and replacing with CFLs, but may try LED now.

  3. Missie

    our fixtures are pretty standard and we have converted almost all our lights to LED. It sure is nice that the bulbs dont go out as often.

  4. alicia

    Probably a stupid question but is there such a thing as an LED fluorescent light bulb LOL?? We have a ROUND fluorescent light in our basement…I really hope it never goes out b/c I dont think I will ever be able to find a replacement. Hoping to switch to all LED lights as we just got our electric bill and it is MORE than our mortgage payment! Hopefully LED lights will at least cut $10 a month off the bill

  5. Daria

    I have some desk lamps that have small bulbs. I have found the size, but they are really pricey so have stuck with regular bulbs. $50 would sure cover some desk lamps! :)

  7. Amanda Watts

    Thanks for sharing! I’m still searching for the perfect LED for the front of our home. And good to know on the flood lights, we’ve been looking at putting one in on the side of our home.

  8. Jessie

    Thanks for posting this – we have talked SEVERAL times about switching to LED’s – our compact fl’s keep burning out…..

  12. sally Nasser

    I thought that LED floodlights were for the outside of your home only, I had no idea that you could put them inside. I certainly learned alot today!

  13. Karin

    I’ll have to check these out! We have mostly CFLs but I don’t like that they have mercury in them. Plus they seem to take a while to “warm up” and get to their full lighting strength. Are the LED bulbs purple when they’re turned on?

    • Rebecca Butler

      The LED bulbs are typically catagorized in warm white and cool. Warm white will be more of a yellowish warm color that most of us are used to. The cool white is bluish and was what most LED’s were initially released as until the technology was improved.

  16. Carrie

    I’ve got a weird bulb size in my kitchen. It’s the strangest light fixture I’ve ever seen and requires odd size bulbs.
    But it gives my kitchen character and I love it!

  17. Erica Miskin

    I don’t have any unusual bulbs in my house, but I do like having the energy efficient ones for our dawn to dusk lights outside.

  21. Rebecca Butler

    I am working on switching my lighting over to LED’s. I have watched the prices fall dramatically over the last year and suspect them to continue to fall as the technology is perfected and honed in for specific lighting needs.

  23. Kendra

    I am hoping to find the right size for our track lighting in the kitchen. Can not tell by the website if they have the right bulb.

  27. Amy Lewis

    I have not tried the led lights yet – but am very interested and this would be a great way to get some!

  28. Margaret W

    We recently moved into military housing that has CFL’s in all the fixtures. I really want to trade them out with mercury-free bulbs. I can get everything I need on homedepot.com!

  29. Amy

    we’ve been gradually switching over to LED….any time an old burns out we replace with LED. just can’t see doing it before that and wasting a perfectly good bulb. wish they were a little cheaper though!