Oooh, fun post! We have smart things in our house too - mostly my husband's doing, but I admit they are convenient. I prefer smart switches to smart lights for what it's worth. The smart lights don't always play nice going back and forth between using the switches and voice commands (perhaps user error?). I like that we can link groups of things together - like telling it to turn off the main floor and it turns off all our lights on the main floor and the tv. We also used smart plugs to set timers for the Christmas lights. Phil set up the command "Merry Christmas" to turn on all the Christmas lights and play our favorite Christmas playlist and "Bah Humbug" to turn it all off. I like setting timers to turn on the lights (kids' room light turns on when it's time to wake up and automatically turns off later in the morning in case we forget to turn the lights off). We have smart locks that automatically lock at a certain times and can be remotely unlocked. We have a smart speaker in our kids' room and use it to play bedtime music/stories/books (and lock it so they can't mess with it during certain hours). We also use it as an intercom (cuts down on the yelling down the stairs). The smart fan in our bedroom is probably my favorite - it makes it easy to turn it up or down in the middle of the night as needed.
I love the idea of grouping things together; that seems very practical. I manually turn off the lights on our main level when it's time to get ready for bed. (Sometimes I announce, "Attention, patrons. The library is about to close. Please bring your...")
The "Merry Christmas" and "Bah Humbug" commands are super cute. I love it. Lol the other day I texted Cowboy David to tell him I was "dechristmasing" and he was like, "What does that mean? Are you wearing a Scrooge costume? Are you returning all the presents?"
I want to use the intercom more but I find the command for it clunky. Do you also have Google? Right now, I say, "Hey, Google. Broadcast to the basement speaker" and then wait for it to respond, "What is your message?" and then give my message, and then it says, "Ok, broadcasting to the basement speaker," and then my message gets transmitted. Because we have a tri-level, I can actually still hear myself and I dunno, it's just kinda weird.
Also, do you know if there's a setting to make it not repeat all the commands you just gave it? I noticed when staying at an airbnb with Alexa that she just does what you ask, without repeating your command.
Smart fan in bedroom--yes, I could see how that is perfect to be voice activated so you don't have to get up to adjust.
Lol Cowboy David and Scrooge Lisa - good pairing. Do you have a Scrooge costume? Does he really think you have time to dress in costume for themed housework? :)
We have smart outlets in our son’s room so his lamp turns on automatically when he’s allowed to get out of bed in the morning and play! It also turns off after he falls asleep at night.
Yes! That is such a perfect use. I don't know if this technology was around when my oldest was born, so we just had the OK to Wake owl, that you had to un-velcro the pajamas off of and manually change the settings every time you changed the batteries. And also if you wanted to use a nap timer, you'd have to open it. 😂 This would have been a game changer. Maybe I should still consider getting some smart outlets soon so that I can program it for independent playtime. (Right now I use a manual visual clock for it, but a light would be a visual cue as well.)
You have only Sam to thank for introducing you to smart devices, as I rolled my eyes and fought against them for a long while! Ps: the blog s/o totally made my day
Great topic! Also, "Everyday I'm Bustlin" made me LOL!!
Thank you, Kay! Glad you enjoyed this post. :)
My pleasure, Lisa!
Oooh, fun post! We have smart things in our house too - mostly my husband's doing, but I admit they are convenient. I prefer smart switches to smart lights for what it's worth. The smart lights don't always play nice going back and forth between using the switches and voice commands (perhaps user error?). I like that we can link groups of things together - like telling it to turn off the main floor and it turns off all our lights on the main floor and the tv. We also used smart plugs to set timers for the Christmas lights. Phil set up the command "Merry Christmas" to turn on all the Christmas lights and play our favorite Christmas playlist and "Bah Humbug" to turn it all off. I like setting timers to turn on the lights (kids' room light turns on when it's time to wake up and automatically turns off later in the morning in case we forget to turn the lights off). We have smart locks that automatically lock at a certain times and can be remotely unlocked. We have a smart speaker in our kids' room and use it to play bedtime music/stories/books (and lock it so they can't mess with it during certain hours). We also use it as an intercom (cuts down on the yelling down the stairs). The smart fan in our bedroom is probably my favorite - it makes it easy to turn it up or down in the middle of the night as needed.
Hey Molly! Glad to hear you enjoyed this post :)
I love the idea of grouping things together; that seems very practical. I manually turn off the lights on our main level when it's time to get ready for bed. (Sometimes I announce, "Attention, patrons. The library is about to close. Please bring your...")
The "Merry Christmas" and "Bah Humbug" commands are super cute. I love it. Lol the other day I texted Cowboy David to tell him I was "dechristmasing" and he was like, "What does that mean? Are you wearing a Scrooge costume? Are you returning all the presents?"
I want to use the intercom more but I find the command for it clunky. Do you also have Google? Right now, I say, "Hey, Google. Broadcast to the basement speaker" and then wait for it to respond, "What is your message?" and then give my message, and then it says, "Ok, broadcasting to the basement speaker," and then my message gets transmitted. Because we have a tri-level, I can actually still hear myself and I dunno, it's just kinda weird.
Also, do you know if there's a setting to make it not repeat all the commands you just gave it? I noticed when staying at an airbnb with Alexa that she just does what you ask, without repeating your command.
Smart fan in bedroom--yes, I could see how that is perfect to be voice activated so you don't have to get up to adjust.
We use Amazon/Alexa.
Lol Cowboy David and Scrooge Lisa - good pairing. Do you have a Scrooge costume? Does he really think you have time to dress in costume for themed housework? :)
We have smart outlets in our son’s room so his lamp turns on automatically when he’s allowed to get out of bed in the morning and play! It also turns off after he falls asleep at night.
Yes! That is such a perfect use. I don't know if this technology was around when my oldest was born, so we just had the OK to Wake owl, that you had to un-velcro the pajamas off of and manually change the settings every time you changed the batteries. And also if you wanted to use a nap timer, you'd have to open it. 😂 This would have been a game changer. Maybe I should still consider getting some smart outlets soon so that I can program it for independent playtime. (Right now I use a manual visual clock for it, but a light would be a visual cue as well.)
Thanks for reading, and for commenting!
You have only Sam to thank for introducing you to smart devices, as I rolled my eyes and fought against them for a long while! Ps: the blog s/o totally made my day
Lol. And I'm so glad I made your day! ;p