We’ve all wished at some point that our appliances could also think on our behalf. Perhaps, the house would simply run by itself? Or maybe there’s some way you could conserve energy without having to exert yourself every night by flipping off every switch?

At last, there’s an easy solution that would fix it all for you! Smart Plugs the answer. It’s the first quick step into smart home automation, and in fact, they’ll have you wondering how you managed to run things without them.

Before we dive into some of the awesome tweaks you can do with them, you may be wondering what exactly a Smart Plug is, and what’s so ‘Smart’ about it?

In simple words, a Smart Plug is similar to a power-point adapter, as it fits easily between the power socket and any appliance that’s about to be plugged in. Its most basic feature is that it turns things on and off.

However, once it’s connected to a smart home platform, it can be utilized in so many amazing ways. The reason why they’re called ‘smart’ is that they allow you to control appliances through an app on your smartphone, even if you’re not home.

The very best smart plugs even gather information on how energy is being consumed in your home. It’s a great feature to make you energy-conscious. Here are the five tweaks you can do with a Smart Plug.

Pinpoint Appliances With Higher Energy Consumption

Ever thought about how much it actually cost to run appliances in your home? Or consider investing in more energy-efficient models, but feel uncertain as to which appliance is going to save you the most?

That is where a smart plug comes into play. A Smart Plug is able to track your electricity consumption. If you’re do not want to purchase tons of Smart Plugs, what you can do is plug in one appliance at a time into the Smart Plug.

You’ll be able to track the units of electricity an appliance consumes, hence you’ll ultimately know which appliance is the most energy-hungry. Having this kind of knowledge, you ought to be able to decide, which appliance is going to save your energy bills if replaced.

Moreover, you can also select which appliance you want to permanently attach to the Smart Plug, meaning, you can then switch it off when not in use, and reduce its standby energy consumption.

Have a Perfect Temperature at Home

After coming home from spending a hot day at work, all you really want is your home to be cooled by the air-con, and you don’t have to do much about it. And if it’s winter and snowing heavily outside, wouldn’t it be nice to return to a nice warm and cozy home?

The worst scenario is if you have unexpected guests during such weather and your home is just not set at the perfect temperature. With a Smart Plug, it’s as easy as it gets to schedule it to turn on and off at the appropriate times.

In other words, whether it’s summer or winter, now you can choose a time for the air conditioner or heater to switch on. Therefore, welcome to the future! A place where you can now enjoy the perfect temperate at home, at any given time.

Limit Your Kids’ Screen Time

With how unpredictable Covid-19 has been and how it has children studying from home, it can actually cause a huge distraction as they’ve all the time in the world to watch TV, be on their smartphone or tablets.

Hence, making it extremely tough to enforce rules on them, Smart Plugs can be a great deal of help in managing your kids’ screen time and establish a healthy after-study routine. You can switch the TV on and off when plugged into a smart plug.

That means, you can monitor your children’s screen time and also limit it, And to make sure they’re not getting up in the middle of the night to watch TV, simply turn off the power when you’re heading to bed.

Protect Your Home From Burglars When Away

It’s usually quite nerve-wracking to leave your home unattended when traveling for a few days because you never know what may go wrong, or who may try to enter your home in your absence.

Therefore, if you’re going to be away for a holiday or just for the weekend, you may want to produce the illusion that someone’s home. This can be done by setting a Smart Plug with a light near a window.

Simply connect the lamp to your Smart Plug, and you can set timers for the lights to come on once the sun sets, and you would’ve created an illusion of activity that will ward off potential intruders.

You can consider purchasing the Philips Hue Indoor Smart Plug at FirstEnergy for $40, and you can finally travel with peace of mind.

Conclusion

Smart home automation is the future, and Smart Plugs just the beginning of it all. Try these four tweaks and we promise you, you’re going to love living in a smart home.