Choosing the Right Light Bulb + GE Lighting Home Makeover Giveaway!

This post is brought to you by GE Lighting.

You know that feeling when you walk into the light bulb aisle, and suddenly you’re overwhelmed at the huge wall of bulb choices?  That’s how I feel, anyway.  What wattage do I need?  Will this bulb work in both my lamp and ceiling fan?  Was I supposed to get LED?  Is soft white the color I wanted?

You get the picture.  Shopping for light bulbs stresses me out, and I know I’m not the only one.

If you’re like me and wondered if a “Light Bulbs for Dummies” book exists, I have the next best thing:  some great infographics and informational videos directly from GE, all of which have really helped me understand all those options I’ve found while bulb shopping.

To make it easier to understand which bulbs are best for your homes, GE has broken the process down into an easy-to-understand process.  I say this in all seriousness:  thank you, GE, for explaining the difference in bulb brightness and energy features, because I’ve always had trouble with it.

So let’s get started with a look at GE’s guide to your perfect light bulb!

Step 1:  Choose the Right Fit 

The shape of the bulb is important.  You might need a standard-shaped bulb for a lamp, a candle-shaped bulb for a chandelier, or a large globe shaped bulb for a bathroom vanity.  Not sure exactly how to determine the difference between a standard- and globe-shaped bulb, or want to make sure you’ve been using the proper bulbs for your lighting sources, check out this quick video:

Step 2:  Choose the Right Brightness  

In the old days, you could look at the light bulb packaging and see “60 watts” and know exactly what that meant.  No more!  You can get the same amount of brightness from fewer watts of energy, but instead of looking at the number of watts, we’re looking for the lumens (technical measure of brightness).  Eighty percent of the cost of lighting your home is the electricity cost, and knowing how to recognize the difference between watts and lumens will teach you how to reduce the cost of lighting your home dramatically.  Here’s another video to learn how to find the amount of brightness you need:

Step 3:  Select Energy Savings & Lifetime

The incandescent bulbs of yore were notorious for burning out quickly, but that’s not the case anymore.  There are new technological features that increase durability.  For hard-to-reach bulbs, you’ll want to look for a “Long Life” bulb to reduce the number of times you have to struggle to change them, which also means the bulb must be durable.  For lights that are typically left on for long periods of time, you’ll want “Energy Saving” bulbs to keep electricity costs down.  Fortunately GE’s LED bulbs provide the durability, long life, and cost efficiency you’re looking for, all in one bulb.  And there’s that phrase that always confuses me:  “LED bulb”.  What exactly is that?  Take a quick look at this infographic to learn how LED bulbs work and compare to other models:

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Step 4:  Choose the Right Color & Effect

After you’ve figured out your brightness, style, and energy needs, you can choose a color and effect!  The rooms in your house probably have different lighting needs.  Soft white bulbs offer warm, comforting light (great for bedrooms), while GE reveal® bulbs provide a clean white light to make colors and patterns pop (great for bathrooms and kitchens).  They really “light up your life” (pun intended). To learn more about how color choice can affect your rooms, this infographic provides some perfect examples:

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To learn more about GE and GE reveal® bulbs, make sure to look at the GE website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

To celebrate the New Year, GE Lighting is offering a giveaway for a home lighting makeover experience! This is a great opportunity to switch out your old dingy lighting with beautiful lighting options from GE Lighting’s soft white, LED, or reveal® bulb line.

You can enter here to win one of these three great GE Lighting Home Makeover packages:

• Beautify House Makeover Package – $200 worth of GE bulbs
• Beautify Room Makeover Package – $100 worth of GE bulbs
• Bathroom Makeover Package – $30 worth of GE bulbs

GE Lighting is providing the product for this giveaway to help you learn about the different light bulbs available, as the plethora of options can seem daunting at times.  Enter through the Rafflecopter form below for a chance to win one of the GE Lighting Home Makeover packages.  Giveaway is open to US residents only and ends at 12 PM PST on January 30th, 2015.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GE Lighting is only providing the product and not running the giveaway.