Your home and mine might have something in common that it didn’t a year or two ago. We may both have had an invisible new family member move in; a sneaky and snoopy member. Someone who is always listening to conversations and feels the need to add items to the shopping list when you might not need them.
Thankfully, this isn’t someone peering over your shoulder at all times, but just the smart speakers which have become ubiquitous in every nook and cranny. This Christmas just passed was a particularly bad one for our home, as it seems the ideal gift family were sending (thanks lockdown!) was smart speaker after smart speaker. We now have one in almost every room of the home, bar the bathroom and a little cubby hole under the stairs. While they are convenient in letting you play music in an instant and help settle the silliest or arguments, I’m having a hard time seeing how implementing other smart home essentials is a good idea.
Sure, many of us are working from home just now, and the kids are taking classes here too, but is spending all that money (£229 for a Google doorbell!) really a smart or dumb idea? I was recently quite invested in the idea of having smart radiators valves installed in every home due to everyone being stuck at home. This has resulted in the heating needing to be on more than ever, which has seen a marked increase in bills. Getting these fancy valves seemed like a smart idea, but considering the average price is £60 a pop, I was looking at around £720 to get the home heating sorted out.
The alternative to a WI-FI enabled, app reliant smart radiator valve? The much cheaper, and surprisingly easier to use, thermostatic valve. How much simpler can it get than a manual radiator valve with a numbered dial on it? I mean, I’d rather walk over and turn a valve from 1 to 5 than sit syncing a valve to an app and having to make sure every valve was linked to the Wi-Fi. To get acquainted with the world of thermostatic valves, I recommend visiting https://www.traderadiators.com/radiator-valves/thermostatic-radiator-valves, which have valves for as little as £20 – a bargain compared to those smart valves.
And speaking of dumb ideas, if you ever catch me trying to look at those colour bulbs, talk some sense back into me immediately. Now, LED bulbs are a great thing to have in your home, and they are slightly more expensive than the old screw-in bulbs, but for the life of me, I can’t understand why someone would want to spend £35 on a three-pack of bulbs. The kids have gone mad for cheap as chips LED light strips in their bedrooms (I recommend looking on Screwfix of all places, as you can get a slightly better deal than Amazon). Why get them over expensive lights you control through a speaker? After all, the light switch in a room is there for a reason and doesn’t need an internet connection to work.
Oh, and one final bit of advice on making sure your smart home doesn’t end up dumb. Robot vacuums! A fancy Roomba will set you back £599 from Currys. A Dyson or Shark is less than half the price, and with the kids having to stay home all the time, think of the money you’ll save, giving them the responsibility of hoovering the house. If that isn’t a smart solution, I don’t know what is!
