Smart Home 101

Many homeowners feel overwhelmed when they think about smart homes. With so many options and devices to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start. But, it has never been easier or more affordable to add some simple technology to your home.

Let's talk about some of the basic devices that are available for your home:

So what does this look like? Here are a few examples:

• Lights out at night! Create a "goodnight" setting that turns out all the lights in your home with the tap of a button, or with a simple voice command.
• Arriving home when it’s already dark? Using location services on your phone, you can set your lighting to come on when you pull into the driveway.
• Lutron has a “smart away” feature that randomly turns lights off and on while you’re on vacation, deterring potential intruders.
• An occupancy sensor can turn the lights on in your laundry room when you walk in with your arms full of laundry.
• Set up favourite lighting “scenes”. For example, “movie time” might dim the lights to a preferred level.
• Quickly adjust the timing of exterior lighting, depending on the time of year.

It is easy and affordable to add some safety and security to your home with Ring products. A Ring video doorbell is a good place to start and can help track all those online orders that get dropped at your front door.

Ring also makes security devices, including keypads, contact sensors, motion detectors. Their 8-piece alarm kit offers great coverage for your home at a good value.

With a few smart security pieces, you can:

• get an alert when someone uses your video doorbell, and communicate with them in real-time.
• be notified of any movement within range of your video doorbell
• receive an alert for any unexpected window or door opening
• be informed of any deliveries to your home while you are away

We can't forget to talk about fire safety in the home. Not only can smart home technology make your life easier, but it makes it significantly safer as well. The Ring Alarm Smoke and CO Listener does exactly what you might imagine it does - it listens for the sound of any smoke or CO alarm inside your home.

If you have a vulernable person or persons living with you, imagine the sense of peace that comes with knowing they are a little less vulnerable because of a few simple devices.