Choosing the right bulb - My MR16 decision

One easy trick to save money (and incidentally reduce your carbon footprint) is to change your house lighting. My house has 15 halogen MR16 50w Philips light bulbs. If I were to switch them on simultaneously, they would suck in a worrying large 750w worth of power.

MR16 lamps are recessed bulbs (they go in the ceiling rather than hanging from it) that are stylish and give a nice warm yellowish, incandescent light - which is why they’re so popular.

After weighing the pros and cons of going for a white light LED MR16 solution, today I purchased a pair of 35w MR16 light from Wilkinson. They’re only £1.99 the pack of 2 and well, from a subjective point of view, they appear to be brighter than the Philips 50w bulbs they’re replacing. That’s a saving of 15w per lamp (30% saving).

Wilkinson have been and are still an underrated, unloved high street brand but their products are well priced and perform better than average, from my POV.

However, if you’ve got one Screwfix outlet near you, you could grab MR16 for cheap. They’re on sale over there (a clearout actually) for £1 a pair.

I’m pretty pleased with them, which means that I’ll upgrade all of my lamps for an additional £13, an investment that I will hopefully recoup pretty quickly as we near Winter Time.

But there’s even more saving coming up when I replace my Halogen Standing Lamp and try to use 20w bulbs instead to save a massive 6o%.