Whether you have an 1800’s Victorian or your home was just built this year, it’s best to let it finally work for you. The happiness it brings me to shut off my lights from bed and have my automatic blinds open in the morning as my alarm. Chefs kiss. There’s just nothing like and it since I bought my first set of remote lights, I refuse to go back. I’ve put together every item that I’ve kept to keep my home smart and the items with the top reviews that can make your home smarter.
1. Smart Lights
There are a few brands of smart lights that have hit the marketplace so far. For me – it’s been Hue Lights since day one. While they’re one of the more expensive brands on the market – i’ll vouch for them. For standard bulbs they have either white or color lights – among a whole assortment of other lights. Personally, I have the ‘white and color ambiance’ lights and they’re amazing. You have to connect a ‘Hue Bridge’ to your router and from there download and app, but the setup is really easy.
Once your set up you can keep adding lights, assign them rooms, set schedules and control your lights from anywhere. So far i’ve added a floor lamp and light strip to different rooms and love them. Another company that I know people use and like is Govee which is cheaper and honestly, pretty similar in set up and functionality. I do think Hue has more options but if you’re budgeting or just want to test it out or not planning on setting up lights across your entire home, I would lean towards Govee or find more options.
2. Smart Thermostats
Smart Thermostats used to be on the more pricier side but in recent years they’ve come down in price to an affordable range. You can find them for as low as $60 – even the Amazon branded thermostats are under $64. The good thing about this price range too is that eventually it’s going to pay for itself. Setting a schedule and turning off the heat or cooling remotely when you forget is going to save more than $60 over the years.
One thing is that a C-Wire is required for installation – which was an issue for my outdated thermostat originally. Other than that you can integrate with other smart home apps like Alexa and it’s a cool breeze from there.
3. Smart Plugs
These are a little bit niche, but as someone that likes to keep their life as simple as possible – I love these. Basically, smart plugs are an outlet extension that allow you to plug anything into them and turn off that specific plug at anytime. So if you have an old lamp or a TV or any appliance you can shut it on and off on a whim through the app. You can even get full power strips that you can label each plug for and shut off each item individually.
4. Roombas
If you’re old enough to remember the first ever Roomba – it was groundbreaking. A self driving vacuum? Sign us all up! Unfortunately they were very expensive and Roomba was the brand that started it all. Since then, there are dozens and dozens of self driving vacuum and even mops – even vacuum mop combos (which I haven’t had good experiences with). I have tried 4 different brands of smart vacuums before and honestly, they were all very similar.
You can map rooms, designate cleaning hours, and schedule hours of cleaning. They all worked very well and ranged from $150 – $400 in price. If I were going for quality assurance I would go with a Roomba, but honestly other brands work just as well. The biggest differences I noticed were app interfaces, some I liked more than others. My only experience with a smart mopping device ended with more dirt streaking across my floor than I started with when I realized it really just dribbles water and runs through it with a pad. I can’t recommend the combination devices, but would look into a smart mop standalone product.
5. Smart Garbage Cans
Here’s another one I can attest by – I HATE making sure my garbage bags go around the edges perfectly. I can’t stand pulling the bag out. I loathe tying it and putting in a new bag. Basically, the whole garbage sequence is a pet peeve of mine. When I first smart trash cans I immediately thought it was stupid, but I really do enjoy it after checking them out. What they do is when they’re full or if you ask them too, they’ll immediately tie your bag up and once you remove it automatically replace the next one. It’s very simple (although you do need specific bag types)
It’s definitely a luxury item and not completely necessary, but if you’re looking for small ways to make your home work for you this is one of them. We do recommend putting new bags on auto ship because you don’t want to run out.
