I left the main power on to appliances but chose not to use any of them. All electronics (computers, tv’s, etc) were switched off at the wall. I turned off the light switches at the fuse box to ensure myself and my two young children wouldn’t accidentally turn on the lights throughout the day and especially later on into the evening.

Instead of entertaining ourselves with DVD’s and the game console we got lots of yardwork done. I set up a tent for the kids to play in. They filled their backpacks with maps and tools and had themselves an Indiana Jones adventure. They only asked for the TV a couple of times in the morning and then they seemed to forget about it.

We walked with the dog to the local fruit barn to get some lunch. On the way back, we stopped at the park for a while and then dropped in to see some friends who lived nearby.

The next door neighbours came over in the afternoon and all the kids continued their adventures. We had a BBQ dinner outdoors with salad and a couple of beers.

Once the sun went down, the kids got really excited. We had some battery operated lanterns we’d picked up for $5 each and used these and candles to play board games until bedtime.

I flicked the lights back on at the fuse box at about 10.30 pm which meant I kept my power usage to a minimum for 24 hours.