On a scale of 1 to 10 of a smart home vs. a home from the dark ages, our house is sitting at a solid 2. I have one TV, the original NES Nintendo system, no cable and my kids think screens don’t work on weekdays!
However, I’m excited about products that have the potential to make our home smarter, easier or more efficient. Like the apps on my phone, they are only useful if I am committed to learning how to maximize their potential and personalize them to my lifestyle. There are many smart products I have my eye on, especially with big July sales going on!
Smart Home Product for Busy Families
Smart Thermostat
The Google Nest Learning Thermostat solves the thermostat wars haunting marriages everywhere! The thermostat programs itself to save energy when you’re away so you’re not wasting energy heat or cooling an empty house. Customers save an average of 10% to 12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. You can even control the thermostat from your phone long after you’ve left the house. I can’t tell you how many times we leave the house for a long weekend or vacation and wonder if we forgot to turn the heat down or A/C up to save money.
Video Doorbell
My husband travels for work so everything about this smart product feels good to me. While I’m certain the custom motion sensors would likely only detect the abundant wildlife in our yard, it’s comforting to know I can monitor our property from my phone. The Ring Video Doorbell lets you see who is on your porch and even allows me to interact with them without opening the door. That makes a mama feel safe!
Smart Plugs
How many times have you driven away from home only to panic that you left the coffeepot on or the curling iron still hot? Or how about wishing you could turn on the lights on so you didn’t come home to a dark house? The Wemo Insight Smart Plugs solve all those questions! You can set automatic schedules for any plugged-in device like scheduling your lights to come on at sunset or a fan to turn on at noon. Coordinate with your Alexa or Google Assistant to control you lights and other devices with your voice.
Smart Hub
The Google Nest Hub brings all your devices under one roof and even syncs with your calendar. This is the one that convinced me to make our home smarter. Not only does it centralize your controls but it gives your reminders, in voice, about snack duty at preschool tomorrow or a reminder to pay the electric bill. It’s the mom assistant you’ve always wished for.
Getting Started with OnTech
Once you’ve chosen how you’ll make your home work better for your busy home life, the hard part can sometimes be installation and the learning curve. Enter, OnTech – a new service available in the Kansas City metro.
OnTech support will help you select the right smart products for your home, and you can purchase products on their site directly at OnTechSmartServices.com. From there, you make an appointment with a professional technician who will teach you how to operate and personalize your new smart home products. Technicians are also available for help on updating your entertainment areas, TV mounting, electrical power relocation, fishing wires, managing unruly cords and digital antenna installation. Basically your go-to source for updating your home to make it work FOR you.
I can see how these products could easily make my life easier and cheaper. And with the mentoring from OnTech, I’ll be on my way to Super Mom. Now I just need a device to actually fold my laundry, and I’ll be set!
