One of the most used buzzwords in silicon valley for the last couple of years is a smart home. Technology has transformed many aspects of our lives and made us do things differently now than we used to even a decade earlier. Smart homes are the latest innovation that transforms our home into small computers that can keep us safe and do many things we could not do previously. We now can unlock our door with a fingerprint instead of a lock. We can voice activate lights and so much more. This article will look step by step at how we can transform our home into a smart home on a budget.
The very first step in turning your home into a smart home is to get proper assistance. This voice-activated machine acts as a virtual assistant and will be the heart of your smart home. There are mainly three options in the market: the newly released apple home pod, google’s home hub, and Amazon Alexa. They all have similar features with some minor differences. The one you select primarily depends on which ecosystem you are most invested in. For example, if you have an iPhone or a MacBook, you will be better off picking apple’s home solution, whereas if you are using android, google will be the smarter choice. But Amazon has been in the market for the longest and their Alexa devices are the most popular option in the market right now.
There are many different price points for assistance depending on their size, but if you are on a budget, we recommend picking the smallest home assistance each company offers. Apple will cost you the most at $100 while both amazon and google will cost you around $50. We also recommend you to shop around, especially during the holiday season, as we have seen prices go down to as much as $30.
Now that you have the brain of your smart home in place, it’s time to start the magic. Smart lights allow you to walk into a room and use your voice to turn on the lights. Cool right? You can turn the brightness up and down or schedule the bulbs to turn on 5 mins before you come home so that you don’t have to go home into a dark room. Smart bulbs are also compatible with smartphones, so they can be controlled from virtually anywhere in the world.
You can pick up smart bulbs from Philips or Tplink ( Kasa smart light ). A pack of 3 lights will set you off around $30-$40. Now, you can even go lower than this. A nice trick is to buy an intelligent slampher; this is where the light bulbs fit into the socket. You can now control the power entering your bulb with your voice. This slampher will cost you around $10. Now every light at your home can be controlled by voice. ( one slampher for one light )
One of the key selling points of smart home devices is their take on enhancing home security. A security camera can be placed both inside and outside your house to monitor everything. These cameras can be connected to your smartphone, and thus you can monitor all aspects of your security even when not close to home. Some security cameras have motion detecting features that will notify you if it detects any motion inside your house. Security cameras can range anywhere from $70 – $200.
The lock and key mechanism has been in place for the longest time and has not changed much. Smart doorbells have a camera built-in so that you can see who is at your door and speak to them without even having to open the door. These devices are simple to install and affordable. It will notify you when motion has been detected, much like a smart camera.
The smart lock has fingerprint capabilities; you can either use your voice or fingerprint to open your doors. This removes the reason to carry around keys that are prone to get lost. You will also get a notification if someone other than you wants to enter the house, if the person is known to you, you can authenticate, and they can enter your hour.
A smart thermostat is used to control the temperature of your house. This is an efficient way of saving up on your utilities as well. A smart thermostat will regulate the temperature of the house. It will adapt to the temperature outside to use the optimal settings. It will also take cues from your usage and have advanced features like warming your house when you are in the driveway or having a pet, keeping the temperature in check when you are not around.
These are some essential tips that you can use to turn your home into a smart home today. But a word of caution, our dependencies with technology have risen exponentially over the last few years. This caused many hackers to exploit our weaknesses, especially in our home security, to use them to their advantage. We are most vulnerable at home, and any compromise in home security can have devastating effects on our life. So, we recommend you proceed with caution, always keep your home security updated and use reliable brands. We are entirely aware that reputed brands that are hard to exploit are a bit expensive, and if finance is something to worry about for now buying all these gadgets, you may consider picking a payday loan. It is an effective means to get your hand on some quick cash. They are fast, risk-free loans that get approved within an hour as they require no credit check. So if you have a bad credit score, not worry, as the loan will still get approved. It is easy to meet the requirements for PaydayLV. You must be at least 18 years old and work in the United States. You can pay off the loan from your next paycheck. So why wait and turn your simple house into a masterful smart home.
