Setting up or adding to your smart home is meant to make your life easier. The great thing about a smart home is that you don’t have to buy all new appliances, devices, and gadgets to build it. You can use smart devices to turn old “dumb” appliances into smart ones.
Of course, you can buy all new appliances and upgrade your home to be more modern. But the point is that you don’t have to. Smart home devices can turn your favorite appliances into ones you can control more easily and can provide a better return for your home. They can do more and make your home easier to live in. At the end of the day, that’s what you want from your smart home. Here are some dumb appliances I’ve turned into smart ones by just using a smart plug.
Related
I used a smart plug to stop my kid from staying up late
Just a few clicks and I was all set.
A floor lamp with a specific bulb
I love the lamp and didn’t want to part with it
Credit: Chris Hachey / MakeUseOf
When I met my wife, she was living in a small apartment and her main light source was a floor lamp with a large bulb from IKEA. IKEA is now known for its line of smart home appliances, but this was a standard light from many years ago. During our relationship, the lamp moved with us into two different apartments and then a house. It’s always been in a corner or served a good purpose in a room I used as an office.
It has a switch on the floor that you press to turn it on, so you have to physically bend down to turn it on. It also needs a specialty bulb, so not just any light bulb will do. While the light has been particularly helpful for years, I did get annoyed at having to reach behind a daybed that we put in the office to turn it on. The way the room was set up and the length of the cord made it perfect to use with a smart plug.
I used one of my Amazon Smart Plugs and plugged the lamp into it. I can easily tell one of my Amazon Alexa smart speakers to turn on the plug now, or I can do it through the Alexa app. I recently replaced the ceiling fan in that room as well, so there was a span of a few days when there weren’t any ceiling lights. This came in handy, having the lamp plugged into a smart lamp, because it provided light at any time of day just by using the voice commands or app.
A humidifier in my daughter’s room is easy to turn on
It’s a part of the bedtime routine
Doing bedtime with a toddler can be difficult. My wife and I are in the throes of being first-time parents and dealing with a toddler has its ups and downs. One thing that we have relied upon is keeping to schedules as much as possible.
Having the same routine day in and day out has set us up for success more often than not. Making it so bedtime is the same has helped my daughter know when it’s time to wind down and get ready for bed.
Part of that included plugging in her humidifier to a smart plug. The humidifier is a calming device that also acts as a white noise machine because of how it sounds. It sits on her dresser next to her alarm clock, so it has been in the same place for a long time. Setting the smart alarm clock on a timer hasn’t been a problem; it glows red at 7:30 PM each night, signaling it’s time to shut off the lights. But having the humidifier plugged into a smart plug also lets us schedule it to turn on at a specific time each night.
This two-pronged approach signals that the day is over and it’s time to sleep. While this doesn’t always work, because she’s a toddler and they are unpredictable, it’s nice to be in a routine that she recognizes and that wouldn’t be the case without the smart plug.
I automate my morning tea routine
This is one of the best parts of my day
Credit: Chris Hachey / MakeUseOf
I get up earlier than everybody else in my home, mostly to get work done before the chaos of the day. During that quiet period, I like to enjoy a cup of morning tea. I’ve been a tea drinker for a while now and have used my smart plug to automate my morning routine.
It’s been an easy setup, as I have a Kasa Matter Smart Plug in the kitchen and my SMEG electric kettle plugged into it. Because it’s a Matter smart plug, it works with several different devices, including my Alexa smart speakers and the Alexa app. Being able to use devices that work across smart home ecosystems is why I trust so many Matter products.
Each night before I go to bed, I fill up the kettle with water and push the plunger down. I set the schedule, so the smart plug turns on each morning and I come down to hot water that I can pour into my cup and take up to my office to start the day with.
It’s nice to be in a routine that she recognizes and that wouldn’t be the case without the smart plug.
While the time saved by this may be considered minimal, it’s one less thing I need to do in the morning. I can just pour the water and move on with the day. The electric kettle has been an upgrade from the traditional kettle I previously used, but it still wasn’t a smart device until I plugged it into the smart plug.
An air purifier has come in handy more often than I realized
I’ve used this device a bunch
Credit: Chris Hachey / MakeUseOf
When we first purchased our house a few years ago, we knew we wanted to paint all the rooms white to make the walls a blank slate. While we weren’t confident in which colors we wanted to paint them for the long haul, it gave us some time to decide while also getting rid of colors we didn’t like from the previous owner.
I did a lot of painting in those first few weeks and have subsequently painted many of the rooms in colors of our choosing in the years following. One thing that I do every time that I paint a room is put our air purifier in it.
Paint fumes linger for a while and using an air purifier and fans to help get rid of the smell, along with keeping the windows open, has helped eliminate them faster. I usually bring a smart plug into the room and plug the air purifier into it, so that I can control it when I’m not in the room. This gives me the ability to turn it on and off without needing to open the door to the room where it’s helping air out.
Smart plugs are incredibly helpful for many devices
I can turn my dumb gadgets into smart home ones by plugging them into smart plugs. It’s easy to use smart plugs and create schedules to use them at different times of the day without having to be there to turn them on. It sets up a proper smart home. Something as simple as a smart plug can go a long way in any smart home.
