One of the best parts of having a smart home is the ability to set schedules and timers to keep your house running smoothly while you’re away. Let’s be honest, vacations are fun, but they can be a lot of work! Get your house set up so you know it can take care of itself while you’re away. Forgot something? No worries! As long as your Wi-Fi stays on and your phone has an internet connection, you’ll have control over your smart devices, no matter how far you travel, giving you the ultimate peace of mind. Forgot to turn off the lights? Can’t remember whether you locked your front door? No problem. Check out this article and get your smart devices set up to support you, while you’re away from home!
Keep your Wi-Fi On!
We hinted at this one already, make sure to keep your Wi-Fi on! While it might be tempting to power down your router while you’re away to save some money, trust us when we say the peace of mind you will get from being able to connect with your devices at any time is worth the small expense! Wi-Fi enables your devices to remain within reach of you, wherever you are, so you can check in while you’re gone and/or if you forgot something. From adjusting your thermostat, to turning lights on and off, or having to unlock the door for someone, you can stay in control of your house while you’re away. This also lets you check in on how things are running; what is the temperature in your house? Has the pet sitter been checking in everyday like they are supposed to? You can check on these devices and their history, making sure all is well. Don’t disconnect yourself from your smart home and devices!
Smart Locks and Smart Keys
Set your smart locks and share smart keys with your house sitters. When you have a smart lock, you don’t need to keep track of different sets of keys for different people. Keep it simple and set up some smart keys for house sitters while you’re away. Whether you have people watering plants, watching your pets, or simply checking in to make sure all is well, you can assign different keys for different people and then track the usage of their keys over time. Knowing when they are coming and going, so you know your house is being looked after the way you’ve asked. You should also set your locks to auto lock when people leave, so you know that your front door is always locked while you are away, even if people are coming and going.
Set Schedules
A great deterrent for criminals while you’re away? Making it seem like you’ve never left! Set a schedule for your indoor and outdoor lights to turn on and off throughout the days and nights to make it seem like there are still people home. Having lights set to turn on in different rooms and various times throughout the evening give the impression that someone is still there. You can incorporate your TVs as well, if they are plugged into a smart plug, scheduling them to turn on for a couple hours, making it look like someone is watching TV at night. Finally, don’t forget to incorporate your outdoor lights into the routine! A good rule of thumb is to have your outdoor lights turn on at night and off during the day. With all of this scheduled activity, from the outside in, it will look like you never left!
Set Thermostats to EcoMode
A great way to keep your costs under control, is to set your thermostat to the appropriate temperatures, such as “Away” or “EcoMode” while you’re gone. These settings will keep your house from getting too hot or cold, depending on the time of year that you are traveling. This will reduce your overall resource use (and energy bill) so that your house isn’t being heated or cooled to the same degree, but it is staying within safe temperature zones.
Smart Alarms
Finally, we recommend that you disable your smart alarm clocks. Whether you are using your smart speaker, a smart alarm clock, or artificial light settings, it’s a good idea to turn these off before you go. If you keep your Wi-Fi enabled while you’re gone, this isn’t a big deal and is something you could do while you are gone. It is nice to get ahead of things like this before you go, so it isn’t something you’re having to deal with while you’re in vacation mode!
Are you planning a vacation anytime soon? If so, which smart device(s) are planning on leveraging while you’re gone? My favorite recommendation is setting up my light schedule, so it looks like someone is always home, what about you? Let us know in the comments below and check in on Thursday for a discussion on cool up and coming tech in the Smart Home Technology industry!
