Turning your home into a smart home doesn’t have to be as expensive and complicated as it sounds. Make your life as easy and as smooth as possible with these budget-friendly DIY home automation ideas that are great for beginners.
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Great Low-Budget, DIY Home Automation Ideas Perfect for Beginners
1. Install Smart Door Locks
The house you buy for your family will most likely be one of your biggest investments in life. This is why one of the first home automation ideas you should take care of is upgrading your house’s security.
Installing smart door locks is a great way to up your house’s security. Most of the time, these are as easy as installing any lock but with the added benefit of locking and unlocking your doors using your smartphone.
Additionally, users can also tune their settings so the system alerts them through their phone when there is door activity such as forced entry, tampering, etc.
You also get the bonus of having your phone act like a magic wand that automatically opens your doors. No need to worry about having to take several trips to get the groceries out of the car anymore.
2. Add Smart Locks on Windows
Adding locks and sensors on your windows is also a good way to up your home’s security. The system should also alert you either through notifications, phone calls, or text messages if a window is broken or forced open.
This should give you enough time to call the authorities if need be.
3. Put Up Wireless Security Cameras in Strategic Locations
These wireless security cameras work great in monitoring your home and making sure it’s far from crime whenever you’re away.
It can also act as a way for parents to check on their babies or their kids and make sure they’re doing their homework. Parents of fur babies can also check their pets during the day and make sure they haven’t destroyed the couch yet.
Home automation systems, when it comes to cameras, are highly customizable. If you’re energy-conscious, there are cameras that turn on only when they detect movement in the area.
Others can be installed along with the doorbell, allowing the user to be alerted when someone’s at the door, to see them, and to speak with them even when he or she is halfway across the world.
4. Automate Your Garage Door
Having a smart garage door does more than just let you check the status of your door or remotely close or open it with your phone. It also gives you peace of mind as you never have to ask yourself again whether you closed your garage door or not.
One of the best DIY home automation ideas is to have your garage door piggyback off of your home security system.
Placing motion sensors and location triggers at the right locations should make your garage door shut automatically should you forget to close it. It’ll also know not to lock you out of your own garage if you’re working on your yard.
You can also program it to close at a specific time of day so you never have to get up when you’re already in bed.
5. Change Your Smoke Detectors to Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
When you’re done taking care of the security cameras and locks on your home, why not change your smoke detectors to their smart alternatives?
These detectors send you alerts on your phone when they detect carbon monoxide, smoke, and even low batteries. Other smart home systems even alert users should there be any water leaks, allowing them to respond to these potential disasters before anything bad happens.
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6. Screw on Some Smart Lights
Now that you’re all done with your home’s security, you can move on to convenience and aesthetics. One of the easiest DIY home automation ideas is to change your lights to smart lights.
Often, installing a smart lighting system is literally as easy as screwing on a light bulb, because that’s all it actually means.
Depending on the kind you buy, you can set smart lights to turn off or on using timers, motion sensors, or other controls like your smartphone. Some systems allow the user to control up to 50 bulbs.
Color-changing smart lighting systems can also be used as mood-setters as they allow the user to dim or change the colors with a tap on your smartphone.
7. Optimize Your Thermostat for Energy Efficiency
Installing a smart thermostat is not only easy to install, it also provides you with convenience from having to constantly adjust it while also helping you save money with energy efficiency.
It uses environmental sensors and scheduling to automatically adjust the temperature settings on your thermostat to an optimum level.
Some systems also use the location of your phone to automatically change the temperature when no one is at home and even to trigger it to automatically turn on when you’re approximately 15 minutes from your home.
8. Turn Your Traditional Electronics and Appliances into Smart Ones
Perhaps one of the coolest home automation ideas is to automate your devices, electronics, and other appliances. While some appliances and electronics already have smart features, installing a smart plug is a great way to turn your traditional appliances into smart ones.
For example, you can program your old coffee machine to start brewing automatically when you wake up with the use of a smart plug. You can also set your home WiFi to turn off on its own at night to stop your kids from playing games on school nights.
Some smart home systems can also be set to anchor off of one device. If you carry your phone with you to your entertainment room, for example, the lights can automatically turn on, along with your home entertainment system.
A lot of electronics nowadays also allow you to control them using your phone. From television sets, gaming devices, and even appliances like washing machines, all these can be controlled with a tap on an app.
Automating your electronics and appliances will really give your home a futuristic feel you want it to have.
9. Make Landscaping Automated
Simplify your life even further with one of the best home automation ideas for those who love gardening – installing a smart watering system.
With this, you’ll never have dead plants because you forgot to water them. In fact, some even have the ability to adapt automatically depending on the weather.
10. Use a Smart Vacuum to Maintain Your Home’s Cleanliness
Finally, with your house secure and looking like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie, why not make sure that it’s also clean? Setting up a robot vacuum is actually as easy as setting your alarm.
Often, these smart vacuums are WiFi-enabled. They connect to your smartphone and let you either schedule the cleaning time or control the vacuum itself wherever you might be.
Love automating your home? Here are some more smart home automation ideas by Hey Ashley Renne:
Automating your home doesn’t have to be expensive and complicated. These DIY home automation ideas make sure that your house is equipped with the security, convenience, and even cleanliness any homeowner would love having.
Are there other smart home automation ideas you can think of? Share them with us in the comments section below!
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