Deal Seeking Mom

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

by


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

  1. Joan

    We have started changing some of our lights to LED, but they are a bit pricey so so got to change it in stages.

    A Home Depot gift card will be good to fulfill my dream…haha.

    Thanks for the gift-away.

  2. Maria Nestor

    We now use LED lights in all our fixtures. We used to have a ceiling fan/light that took a wonky sized bulb, but Home Depot always had it in stock!

    maria_m_nestor (at) yahoo.com

  3. Mrs. Schmid

    No unusual fixtures at our house, but I was able to find LED bulbs for every use at our house on HomeDepot.com!

  8. Paula Carr

    Wow, I did not know about the LED light bulbs. They seem to be much better. I am definitely going to check them out on the next trip! Thanks!

  11. Doria

    No unusual bulb needs in our house. We purposely don’t get fixtures that require odd bulbs (aside for one small kid’s night light), because this way we can buy LEDs in bulk—saving even more. HomeDepot.com does seem to have a large selection, though.

  12. Emilie G.

    We try to replace our bulbs by LED lights every time one goes out. Too expensive to do it all at once, although we might see the benefit quickly if we did that! I am intrigued by the water heater timer. Hadn’t heard about that but definitely want to check it out!

  13. Charlotte

    We don’t have unusual fixtures unless you count our lanterns. We would not want to replace those but do have other places we could use LED like in our closet.

  15. Dorothy

    I think the only light fixtures we have that don’t use these is our bathroom vanity light (which is a series of 4 bare large round bulbs) and our front light which is one of those yellow lights which doesn’t attract bugs.

  16. Jessica Pinkul

    I have led bulbs that I use in my kitchen over my sink, my problem is they go out LITERALLY every week. And they are very pricey. I wanted to find a bulb that I could use that was still energy friendly & bright enough to where I can still see what I’m cooking. So thats been my biggest problem. I never know who to ask, or what to use?
    Pudgy.ponies@ yahoo dot com

  17. DanielleCorrelle

    We have switched some of ours over, but I honestly don’t know if any of ours are unusual sizes…my husband handles most everything that requires a trip to the hardware store. ;)

  18. Kathy

    We have been slowly replacing our regular bulbs with LED lights. The Home Depot always has what we need in stock!

  20. Sandy

    We have recessed light fixtures in the ceiling of two bedrooms. I was surprised I actually had a choice of “watt” sizes that came in traditional bulb sizes. Since these rooms are guest rooms, these bulbs may outlive me!

  21. alisha

    I love that they don’t have mercury in them. We have had a “Breakage” issue in the past with the mercury ones.

  25. Karen

    I just got some new lamps that call for 100-watt bulbs (not unusual, I know). I made the mistake of buying the “daytime” CFLs at the Home Depot – the light was way too cold and blue for a living room. My mistake. I think I’ll go back to Home Depot, check out the great displays and LEDs, and get the right bulbs this time. Thanks!

  26. Jessica Urgelles

    I love the LED lights, once you get use to them. We have been replacing ours as they go out. We are at about 85% replaced, I figured in the next few months we will have all LED. The big plus for us is we have a ceiling fan light fixture suspended about 15 feet up in our living room and it is almost impossible to change, this saves us so many hassles.

  27. Jamie Moore

    Thanks for sharing this. I really appreciate it’s content. I think if something is going to be more energy efficient and last longer the higher price is expected. You rock!!

  28. Kelly F

    We don’t have any unusual bulb sizes but I have been wanting to switch to LED bulbs. Thanks for the review and look forward to hearing if they saved you some money on your electrical bill.

  29. Melanie

    We use Led lights too! They last longer and we saw a difference in our bill. Homedepot always has them in stock.