Smart home electronics feel like a thing of the future, even though they’re very much available now. I’ve always been curious about how this technology can be helpful to others, or even to me, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time and money making that happen over the years. But since my brother got hurt in a car accident roughly 10 years ago, I’ve been searching for ways to make his life easier with smart home tech.
Turning his “dumb” appliances into something he can easily use through his phone or a voice assistant has been a passion of mine. A passion that has eked its way into my daily life as well. Turning your house into a smart home is more affordable than ever before, and even your old appliances can benefit from these cost-effective upgrades.
Smart plugs for floor fans rock
Nobody wants to get out of bed when it’s cold
While my brother and I couldn’t be any more different from one another, there’s one thing that we absolutely have in common — our inability to sleep without a box fan running. The noise is soothing, and the breeze feels great, even if it’s chilly outside. Smart plugs come in handy for things like this, as they typically work with different home assistants like Alexa or Google Gemini. I have my floor fan set to turn on and off automatically with routines, so I’m comfy during the most important hours of the day.
But not all smart plugs are built equally. Some offer voltage monitoring; others are as basic as they come, and that’s more than enough for most. Imagine waking up in the morning and telling your Alexa to make you a cup of coffee. There are a ton of ways you can utilize smart plugs, and you can make those routines happen easily.
- Brand
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Kasa
- Connectivity
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Wi-Fi
- Integrations
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Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
- Schedules
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Yes
Smart bulbs add style, flair, and more
Adjustable brightness is also incredibly nice
I bought my first house in 2024, but I’ve been using smart bulbs for as long as I can remember. Having the ability to adjust how bright the room is, turn on lights while I’m away from home, or set up routines so they turn on automatically is wonderful. But recently, I installed a few additional bulbs for my porch light. Whoever wired my home decided that it would be a good idea to make one of the outdoor outlets work if the porch light had been switched on. This was obnoxious, and I figured it was time to do something about it.
After installing a smart bulb in the porch, I can adjust when the light turns on or off, and the outdoor outlet works at all times. Regardless if I’m using my electric snowblower or I just want to put a few holiday-themed inflatables outdoors, I can do so without needing to be blinded by the porch light. Changing colors to match the movies I’m watching or keeping them dim at night is also a fantastic feature.
Vibration sensors are rather great
Laundry and more could be modernized with these
After experimenting with a way to make my washer and dryer “smart”, I’ve learned that vibration sensors offer a lot of value for many different situations. Some folks have put them on the inside of their mailbox door to alert them when mail has arrived. You could put these on a cabinet door to alert you if someone is trying to sneak some snacks. For under $20, vibration sensors are a fun little project.
There are a ton of fantastic ideas in this particular Reddit thread — sump pumps, mouse traps, litter boxes, and more. A lot of these could easily be classified as “party tricks”, but there are some genuinely great options here. The internet pointed me in the right direction when it came to modernizing my washer and dryer, and these comments have already put a few additional ideas in my head. Just make sure you have a Zigbee-compatible device that works with them, or you’ll end up devoting a weekend to more projects than you anticipated.
5 devices under $20 that made my smart home work way better than I expected
These low-cost gadgets are all you need to optimize your smart home.
Smart light switches can revamp a room
Never forget to turn off the basement light again
If there’s one thing I’m incredibly guilty of, it’s accidentally leaving the basement lights on overnight. Coming upstairs with a loaded laundry basket, I often forgo hitting the switch and waste a bit of extra electricity I didn’t need to. Smart light switches can be controlled via voice or app, or scheduled to automatically turn off.
For someone like my brother, who is in a wheelchair, these can be incredibly helpful too. Forgetting to turn on the living room light is something most people can resolve quickly, but for him? Being able to touch a button on his phone to activate the ceiling fan and lighting system is much easier than turning around, going back inside, flipping the switch, and repeating the process.
Using a smart sensor on a fridge is handy
Never forget to close a door again
Contact sensors are something I’m still learning a bit about, but I’ve recently installed one on my garage fridge. It may sound slightly silly to use it on something like that, but hear me out — we keep a lot of bakery in the garage fridge, as my wife loves to make tasty treats. Coming in and out of the garage with a handful of cookies is hard enough, but if you prop open the fridge door while baking and have to run back into the house, it could cause some issues.
Tossing a contact sensor on the door, as well as a few others around the house, has made things much easier to manage. She never has to second-guess herself if she may have left something open or not, and I can always remind her to double-check if I notice a notification coming through on my end.
