It was only recently I got my first smart phone, and after realizing how utterly amazing they are, I can’t believe I held out for so long. You can organize, shop, and communicate all with the touch of a few buttons on a gadget that fits into the palm of your hand. I even work with my phone, connect via social media, watch my child in another room via a live video stream, and even remotely control my home from far away- a smart home!
Today, we all look for ways to make our lives more convenient, to simplify, and also to save money, so being able to remotely control our home from work or even while on vacation is fabulous, and I recently learned about the Nest Learning Thermostat, which also lets you control your thermostat away from home. And this thermostat is smart, so it also “learns” your patterns and controls your home for you, making life even easier.
Looking for ideas to create your own smart home? Here are my time and money saving tips:
5 Smart Tips To Help You Save Time and Money In Your Home
1. Use light dimmers. We don’t always need our lights on full blast, and dimming the lights can save money and in some cases help bulbs to last up to 20 times longer.
2. Choose cellular shades for window treatments. They help insulate your home and save money throughout the year.
3. Replace old and inefficient appliances with new, Energy Star rated appliances. We did this with quite a few appliances and were happy to see that air conditioning our home this summer didn’t send us to the poor house as a result (of course, once we get solar panels, another smart move, we’ll save even more!)
4. Install a smart thermostat like the Nest Learning Thermostat. Smart thermostats offer you climate control, the convenience of programming away from home, and more, saving both time and money.
5. Use a smart sprinkler to control your sprinkler system from your smartphone (love that this phone can do so much!). Smart sprinklers adjust settings based on both the weather and time of day and take that chore off your mind.
Enter for a chance to win a Nest Learning Thermostat!
Direct Energy is committed to helping their customers build smarter homes and cut down on their energy usage, saving their time and money. Direct Energy is currently offering 24 and 36 month Comfort and Control Plans at fixed rate stability along with a Nest Learning Thermostat valued at $249 at no cost, and you can also enter the Nest Giveaway Sweepstakes for a chance to win a Nest Learning Thermostat! Five readers will win Nest Learning Thermostats, and all entrants will as get more information on creating a smart and convenient home, so be sure so enter on their landing page here. Contest ends October 22nd and winners will be chosen mid-November.
Learn more about Direct Energy and Nest Learning Thermostaton their facebook page, and explore their Comfort & Control Plans. Make your home smarter! Find out more from your mobile device here: Direct Energy mobile.
What do you do to make your home smarter? Share your ideas and favorite tips!
Thanks to Direct Energy for sponsoring today’s discussion
We have some things that are “smart”, but I would like to get our home more home smart!
I definitely love all these new home automation products. If we had central heating/ac this would be a great item to have!
I’ll definitely have to keep this in mind for my future home. 🙂
We replaced the 27 year old duct work in our home and 3 of our doors – it’s made a huge difference.
These are some great energy saving tips. I’ll have to look further into some of these and see if I can’t save some money on my electric bill.