Saving energy on Lighting

I am grappling with the thorny problem of saving energy by reducing the energy used by lights in the house to try to cut our electricity bill which rivals the national debt in trajectory. For a start I did buy the early energy efficient bulbs and we sat around in the gloom peering at each other. That rather stopped the spread of energy efficient bulbs for a while except in rooms we rarely used (sensible idea that). However, recently I have started to replace our downlighters with LED bulbs and they are fine = more expensive with fancy electronic components, but longer lasting I believe. I have also bought a spot lamp with a LED bulb that shines over my shoulder when I read so we don’t need to put on more room lights. Actually for us I think we will initially save much more electricity by just switching lights off. We do tend to look like Blackpool illuminations at night. A light for the stairs and hallway; lights under the kitchen cupboards shining onto the worktop as they are fluorescent tubes hubby says “better to leave them on”. I know this is true but for 4-5 hours or when he goes to bed ? We also leave on at least one lamp in the living room whether someone is in or not. Part of this is about security and letting folks with nefarious ideas know there is someone about but mostly it is about lack of thought.