Top 10 Home Automation ideas for Busy Moms: #1 is must
I remember there was a TV show “I dream of Jeannie” where there was a character who will blink her eyes and most of the household chores would be done. With latest smart home devices busy moms (or dads ) can save a lot of their time by automating their home and achieve similar kind of power. Right now, Home Automation may not work by blinking eyes but based on your voice command or mobile app or by scheduling a task you can control your smart home and get a lot of things done. Home Technology can add comfort and save money for you. Automated home will also provide you extra time to spend with your family and do whatever you love doing.
In this article we will discuss various home automation devices and their specific design which will help busy moms (and dads) in making their house a smart home.
One deterrent for adopting smart home devices/gadgets is their cost but if you start looking at it as an investment then you will realize that this is not a big issue. For example, if you spend 1 hour vacuuming your home every week and assume if you hire someone to do vacuuming or value your time at say $30 per hour then you are spending $120 every month or almost $1500 every year. Now you can automate this task by buying a robotic vacuum cleaner at say $300 -$500 and this investment will save almost $1500 every year.
Smart home gadgets could be a cool tech gift for new Moms. Dads can also explore their geeky side with automated home.
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Robotic Vacuum cleaner
As mentioned in this article earlier Robotic vacuum cleaner can save a lot of time and money. If you have kids or pets at home you may be vacuuming every day and automating this task can save a lot of time. You can schedule your vacuum cleaner to work at certain time. For example you may set it up to work when you are in office and come back to a clean home.
iRobot Roomba 650 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, Black
You can also buy a mopping robot and make your home extra clean and save time on mopping floors.
Agreed, even after using robotic vacuum cleaner and mop you may still have to do some cleaning yourself. Robo cleaner may miss some spots or may not clean stuff other than floor but still they are a time saver.
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Amazon Echo
All busy executives have assistant then why should mom not have a smart assistant for themselves. Amazon Echo can be a virtual smart assistant which saves time and makes mom more efficient. Amazon echo responds to voice command and can do things like making a grocery list, telling you current temperature, traffic updates etc. to name a few features. It can also help you in your workout.
You can also use Amazon echo to control other smart home device like thermostat, smart plug, smart lights and more such smart devices.
Google home and apple’s Siri can also be used instead of Amazon echo as your virtual assistant
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Smart Door bell
Most of us run towards door when a bell rings but with smart doorbell we can take it slow. When someone rings a smart doorbell then you will get a notification on your smart phone and you can see who is at the door and even talk to them. If you are taking care of baby or in middle of something then you can request the visitor to wait. Else you can finish talking with visitor over smart doorbell if they are just dropping a package or there is someone you don’t want to entertain.
Smart doorbell can also be accessed when you are not at home. It will also keep a log of previous visitors and is great from safety perspective as you can see who you are opening the door to.
Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell in Satin Nickel
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Smart Coffee Maker
One thing which keep moms running through out day is their cup of coffee and smart coffee maker makes this task easy. You can schedule for coffee to get ready at a particular time or use your mobile app and get your coffee prepared.
It will also remind you if your coffee maker is running out of coffee or water. More than saving time it is a great device from comfort perspective.
Mr. Coffee Smart Wifi-Enabled WeMo 10-Cup Optimal Brew Coffeemaker, BVMC-PSTX91WE
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TrackR Bravo (locate stuff)
No need to waste time searching for that key or purse around house. Instead use a tracking device like TrackR and locate anything faster.
TrackR Bravo is a Bluetooth based tracking device. It can couple with your phone and will help you locate lost item. You can also press a button on TrackR to locate your mobile phone. It is a coin size device and can attach with your wallet, handbag, keys, pets collar, kids pocket or practically anything you want to track or locate.
Track – When you attach TrackR to an item you will be able to track it using your mobile phone.
Notify – You will get a notification on your phone when your lost item is near some other TrackR user via crowd locate network.
Distance locater – As you search for your item, the TrackR app will show if you’re getting closer to item.
Phone Finder– You can press button on TrackR bravo and it will ring your phone.
Amazon Alexa – Just say, ‘Ask TrackR to find my phone,’ and your Amazon Alexa-enabled device will ring it for you.
TracR Bravo review Locate your pets, kids or anything you worry losing
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Smart Plugs
iDevices Switch – WiFi Smart Plug w/ Energy Monitoring, No Hub Required, Works with Amazon Alexa
Smart Plugs and Switches are probably easiest way to convert most of your existing devices to smart ones. How many times have you wanted to switch off or on lights across your room without moving? How many times have you wondered whether you have left something ON when you are out of your home? Well these smart plugs can help you to control devices as well saving on power bill.
Some of these smart plugs are compatible with Amazon echo and other virtual assistant and can be used to control smart devices using voice command.
Click here to get more details on Smart Plugs
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Smart Thermostat
ecobee4 Alexa-Enabled Thermostat with Sensor, Works with Amazon Alexa
Imagine you are feeling too cold or warm during the middle of night and don’t want to walk all the way to change temperature. Well Smart Thermostat can be a help in these scenarios.
Smart Thermostat is a device which can connect with WIFI and then you can control temperature of your home via mobile device and/or voice command. You can also program smart thermostat to behave in certain way based on conditions like time of day, whether location is empty or full of people, outside temperature etc.
It makes sense from economical perspective as they can help in reducing your electricity bill by 20-30% or more and you will recover your investment in short period.
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Smart Security Camera
Nest Cam Indoor security camera, Works with Amazon Alexa
Whether you want to monitor your nanny who is taking care of your little one or want to check who is outside/inside your home you need a wireless security camera. Most of these wireless security cameras have live streaming, smart motion alerts, email alerts and snapshots, advanced recording options.
So, when you are missing your little one when you are in office or doing gardening outside you can quickly take a peek of your baby on your phone using smart camera.
Having a smart camera outside your front door also provides security and comfort.
Top wireless security camera system
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Smart Sensors
There are many different kind of sensors available in market like door/window sensor, motion sensor etc which you can use to track and monitor your home. For example having sensor outside kids nursery will indicate if someone has entered or left that area. Some of the smart Thermostats also come with sensors which help you regulate temperature of a specific room.
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Smart Hub
Samsung SmartThings Smart Home Hub
In order to seamlessly operate these smart home devices, it is a good idea to have a smart hub. Smart hub is like brain for Smart home, they can communicate with devices as well as enable inter device interaction. For example when you are near your home you may want temperature to change based on your preference and lights to turn ON. You can configure these kinds of scenarios in Smart Hub and make your life comfortable.
One should keep in mind that there are hundreds of smart home devices available in market and no single hub can provide compatibility with each one of them. So before purchasing a smart hub make sure it is compatible with smart home devices you have or you are planning to purchase.
Best smart hub available for your smart home
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