Do you unplug?

When you are not using electronics in your home, do you unplug them? A new advertisement suggests that unplugging home electronics (like game consoles and TVs, not including appliances like refrigerators) can reduce electricity costs by US $100 a year. Here's the ad:


Many of these devices do continue to draw power even when turned off, so disconnecting them may help reduce your overall electric bill. I always try to unplug more stuff when I leave home, but I usually leave one digital clock plugged in. It's a pain to reset it all the time.

I'm always going around the house and unplugging random electronics not being used. The problem is that I can't get my family on board (either out of laziness (kids) or "it's not worth it" cynicism (husband)), so it's only me doing the unplugging.

I try to this...however, I failed in that this week as I forgot to turn off the power strip that my TV and game consoles are plugged into since I'm away all week. >_< That said, I freely admit that I don't pay my electricity, it's included in my rent.

If all of your electronics are plugged into power bars, would turning off the power bar have the same effect as manually unplugging each and every one of the plugs from it?

I think turning off the bar would have the same outcome, but I tend to unplug stuff from the bar and turn it off.

Tanith wrote:

The problem is that I can't get my family on board

I can relate to that. I've tried to get family members to do this sort of thing before, but on some things they refuse to change their habits.

Part of the problem is that my house is on life support. You'd need to take a vacation from work just to undertake the job of unplugging all the electronics.

Unfortunately, I don't...my gaming room is such a mess of things plugged everywhere, it would be chaos to even try to plug again everything.

Sadly, I'm too lazy to get behind the furniture and unplug the TVs and stuff when they're not in use. I do unplug the video game systems though.

Ah, yeah, having to move furniture would put a real damper on my unplugging, too. Fortunately most of our stuff is on power strips here, except the big appliances.

No, I don't unplug. I guess I should, but don't take the time. Although I do make sure things are turned off when I leave, etc. Maybe it's something I'll try and start doing since it is supposed to save a lot.