Are you looking to upgrade your home and make it smarter? Home automation is a great way to do that, and it doesn’t have to be expensive either! In this blog post, we’ll share some of the best home automation ideas that won’t break the bank. Read on for more details.
1. Lighting Automation Ideas
Lighting automation is a great way to make your home more energy-efficient and secure. Here are some of the smartest ideas to make your home lighting automation work for you:
1. Automated Illumination Controls: With automated illumination controls, you can adjust your lighting according to the time of day, occupancy, and other environmental factors.
2. Dims and Brightens Lights Automatically: Smart lights can be programmed to dim or brighten automatically as the light level changes in your home. This way, you can save energy while still enjoying the perfect level of brightness in each room.
3. Use Smart Lights at a Lower Brightness: You can program your smart lights to work at a lower brightness than traditional lights, helping you conserve energy while still getting ample illumination.
4. Receive Notices of Important Emails from Designated People: With home lighting automation, you can program your lights to turn on when you receive important emails from designated people, so you don’t miss any important messages!
5. Sunrise Alarm: Simulate the sunrise and bring lights up gradually in the morning, to avoid being jolted awake by a loud alarm clock.
2. Receive Notice of Important Emails from Designated People
Receiving notice of important emails from designated people is a great way to stay on top of tasks and communications. It can be especially helpful when you have multiple inboxes or use email to manage tasks. Here are some creative home automation ideas to help you out:
1. Set up email notifications in Outlook. Select the inbox where you will be receiving these messages, then use the Home tab to start setting up notifications.
2. Use Email by Zapier to send automated emails and watch for urgent messages. You can also program a notification to appear on every touchscreen and mobile device at the same time once a week if you need to remind yourself of something.
3. Get a notification on your smart device when you receive an email that matches the subject filter you specified. This can be especially useful if you need to stay on top of certain emails or topics.
4. Set up activity updates to receive an email notification when a task is assigned or unassigned from you, so you don’t miss any important tasks.
5. Create rules in Outlook that keep each outgoing message in the Outbox for as long as you specify. This can be useful for double-checking emails before sending them out, or for making sure no message gets forgotten in the Outbox.
6. Use Automatic Send/Receive to perform this function every N minutes, so you don’t have to manually check your inbox multiple times a day.
These home automation ideas are great for beginner or advanced users alike and can help streamline your email workflow, ensure important messages don’t get missed, and make sure all tasks are completed in a timely manner!
3. Smart Fridges: the Future of Home Automation
Smart fridges are the future of home automation. By connecting your fridge to the internet, you can take advantage of its many features and make your home smarter than ever. Here are some of the amazing things a smart fridge can do:
• Track ingredients and alert you when something is about to expire
• Provide up to 1,000 different recipes
• Become the hub for your smart home ecosystem by connecting all your other devices
• Receive important emails from designated people
• Automatically adjust temperature settings based on your location
• Monitor humidity levels in your bathroom
• Remind you to take out the trash
• Automatically lock the doors when everyone is away
• Set up alarms and lighting automation when you’re coming home late at night
With these features, a smart fridge is sure to become an invaluable part of your home automation system.
4. Sunrise Alarm
Rise and shine with a simulated sunrise alarm! Have your lights gradually increase in brightness over a scheduled period of time, so you can wake up more peacefully and naturally. You can also use this to help reduce the grogginess of waking up early and get ready for the day ahead. You can find detailed guides online on how to create sunrise alarms with your smart bulbs.
5. Reduce Bathroom Humidity
Reduce Bathroom Humidity: If your bathroom gets too humid, you can use a smart fan to keep the air fresh. The fan will sense when the humidity reaches a certain level and turn on automatically to reduce the humidity in your bathroom. You can also set the timer to turn off after a certain amount of time or create an automation that turns off the fan after your shower is finished.
6. Trash Reminder
Make sure your trash is taken out on time with a trash reminder! This automation will remind you to take out the trash the night before it is scheduled to be collected. You can also set a reminder to check if the refrigerator door has been left open. That way, you don’t have to worry about wasting food or energy.
7. Location-based Thermostat
Setting up a location-based thermostat can be a great way to ensure that your home is comfortable when you need it. With geofencing, your thermostat will automatically adjust to the optimal temperature when you enter or leave a specific area. With HomeKit, you can control your thermostat with Siri and set up triggers based on temperature, occupancy, and other conditions. Wi-Fi enabled sensors can be connected to your thermostat to monitor occupancy and adjust the temperature accordingly. You can also use geo-services to control the temperature of your home from virtually anywhere. Finally, make sure you set up an automated sunrise alarm so that your home will be at the perfect temperature when you wake up in the morning!
8. Automatically Lock the Doors
– Smart locks are a great way to secure your house and add convenience and peace of mind.
– An automatic door lock system can make life easier for the elderly, disabled, or those with mobility issues.
– Have your keys always with you by using a smart home device or mobile app to lock the door remotely.
– Set up a geofence trigger to a HomeKit device to automatically unlock the door when you arrive.
– Use a “long” delay on your sensors to lock the doors when you leave the house.
– Reduce your worry of forgetting to lock the door by programming it to auto-lock three minutes after the garage door closes.
9. Alarm Automations: Light The Path Ahead
Alarm automation can be a great way to make sure you are always on time and never miss an important meeting or event. For example, you can set up a motion sensor in the hallway to turn on the lights 10 minutes before your alarm is due to go off. This will light the path ahead and make sure you don’t have any trouble finding your way to the bathroom or kitchen. You can also set up a timer to turn off the lights 10 minutes after your alarm goes off, ensuring you don’t waste any energy while getting ready.
