This Christmas light calculator shows what your Griswold house costs

Remember this famous scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where Clark Griswold finally gets the Christmas lights to work and the whole town goes dark? Even if you're not trying to break the regional electric grid, your holiday light display is still costing you something. After all the expense of the holidays one thing we don't think much about is the electric bill that comes after the fact in January.

We found a cool little calculator that shows you just what those lights are costing. There can be a huge difference depending on the kind of bulbs you have. I found out after using this I have the less economical kind. Maybe next year it'll be time for an upgrade. Notice when you look at the calculator it asks how many daily hours of use as well as type of bulb and how many 100 bulb strands. I've know some folks who like to leave their lights on throughout the night, but think about that. Not turning them off when you go to bed can really cost you as this calculator will show. And how many people are really enjoying them at 3 o'clock in the morning anyway?

Click here to access the Christmas lights calculator. It will tell you everything you need to know except what day cousin Eddie is leaving.

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