It has happened to the majority of us: leaving on the oven or even a burner. While leaving the oven on unintentionally and unattended not only has obvious fire hazards and safety dangers, but also wastes energy. When you realize your oven has been on for hours on end, it also usually causes a sense of urgency accompanied with panic—and understandably so. With such a common problem, especially when you’re cooking 10 things at once, watching the kids, and answering the phone on top of everything else—we have put together 2 simple fantastic tips to help you turn your stove off when it’s not in use. Whenever you turn on your burner or oven, immediately turn on the oven light. Lifehacker found a nifty tip from Reddit to get in the habit of using your range light as a reminder it’s in use. When you turn off your range or burner, turn off your oven light. The visual reinforcement of the light associated with your appliance either being turned on or off is a helpful reminder to know the status of your appliance. If you need a more obvious and fashionable reminder… Our friends from Apartment Therapy came up with a simple and virtually free way for you to remember to turn your oven off. Try using your junk drawer’s rubber bands, the kid’s Silly Bandz, or you could even use some stretchy thin hair ties to place around your stove’s knobs. Then, when you turn on a burner or the oven, place a band around your wrist as a gentle reminder your appliance is turned on. Once you consciously turn off your range (or corresponding burner), put the band around the stove knob again. While cooking and juggling a household all at once can be overwhelming or you are prone to forgetfulness in general, these tips are sure to help you turn off the oven when you’re finished. For the first few times that you partake in one or both of these tips, find what works best for you. Nothing is worse than having the sudden panic that your oven has been turned on for hours. By being consciously aware from physical reminders with the connotations associated with them, you are bound to feel confident knowing you have indeed turned off your electric or gas oven/stove/range.
