Kill-A-Watt

OK, first off, I have to say that the Portland Public Library is awesome. I recently found out that you can check out an electricity monitor called a kill-a-watt that lets you see how many watts different devices use while plugged in to your power outlets. Needless to say, I borrowed it and the thing is pretty sweet. You can compare the power usage of different appliances to one another and also see how much electricity devices use while plugged in but NOT turned on (this is know as a vampire charge). I was happy to find that my cell phone charger did not use any electricity while plugged in when my phone wasn't attached but was shocked to find out the our double-strand of Christmas lights use about 10 times the wattage as our table lamp! I have been making sure the holiday lights get unplugged before bed each night now that I now what an electricity drain they are..... I know I should get the LED kind, which use much less electricity, but they make me crosseyed and feel like I am going to have a seizure.
If you ever come across a kill-a-watt and have a chance to bring it home (check your local library!), it's pretty neat to see and compare the power usage around your home. It even turned into a betting game of sorts for us. Now that I am more acutely where of what devices are using the most power, I am making better decision in powering things down when not in use.
Have you ever used a kill-a-watt?

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