Prices for LED light bulbs have dropped a lot over the last 3 years. Here is a simple guide to help you make the switch over to LED and learn how much you'll save. You'll also be able to determine how quickly the LED bulbs will pay for themselves, and where it doesn't make sense to switch yet.

Create a List
Create a list of all of the lights in your house, including your exterior lamps. Make a note of the bulb shape, bulb base, wattage, color temperature, and hours per day usage for each. For example:

Room	Qty	Type	Base	Watts	Color	Hours/Day
Bedroom	2	A	E26	60W	2700k	2
Bathroom	5	G	E26	40W	3000k	3
Living Room	3	A (CFL)	GU24	14W	2700k	5
Garage	2	A (CFL)	E26	23W	4200k	0.5

Use the LED light bulb calculator to find out how much you'll save per year by replacing existing bulbs with LED.

Buying the Bulbs
I recommend buying bulbs in packs or in bulk, as it will cost less per bulb. Amazon has a large selection of LED bulbs and tends to be among the best priced.

Depending on usage, some bulbs may not be worth replacing yet. Compare your per-bulb purchase cost to the amount saved per year (using the calculator). If it's going to take many years to recoup the purchase cost, you may want to hold off until LED bulbs drop further in price.

Also, feel free to change color temperatures when buying new bulbs, if you want something warmer or cooler.

Light Output Reference
Most LED and CFL bulbs are advertised as "60W Equivalent", "75W Equivalent", "100W Equivalent", or similar. This works well if you're replacing incandescent bulbs only, but if you have a mixture of incandescent and CFL bulbs, use the below chart to find out what wattage LED bulb you need.

Lumens	LED	CFL	Incandescent
450	4-5	9-13	40
800	6-8	13-15	60
1100	9-13	18-25	75
1600	16-20	23-30	100
2600	25-28	30-55	150

Recycle Old Bulbs
When you're done, be sure to take your old bulbs to a bulb recycler like Home Depot or Lowes.