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When it comes to smart home tech, I am among the informed and saavy or so I thought. Recently, while outfitting my new digs I began researching a few smart home options and realized I didn't truly know where to begin and that the cost was adding up quickly.
Below I've provided a shortlist of very simple and cost efficient smart home products that should help any tech novice take a step towards creating a smart home.
The WeMo Mini Smart Plug by Belkin may just be my favorite starter product and the reviews will back me up on this. Nothing too fancy here, but this little addition to your home will have you controlling your plugged in items from the WeMo app (iOS & Android) in just a few minutes. So very simple and affordable.
For all those folks out there who were not gifted with a "green thumb", PlantLink delivers a smart home solution to monitor your plants for you. The product is dynamic in that it provides monitoring for both indoor and outdoor plants, lawns, and gardens. The PlantLink product site has a very easy to follow how-to to give you headway on your harvest.
Alright, you're probably feeling a little bit like a smart home hot shot at this point, so just to continue feeding your electronics ego I bring you the smart power strip. Power anything from anywhere…seriously. This plug and play solution is controlled via mobile as well.
Quirky delivers another smart home hit with the Egg Minder smart egg tray. You don't need to SCRAMBLE (see what I did there?) for eggs anymore, because the Egg Minder app will keep count for you. Another similar product to keep an eye on is Quirky's Milk Maid. Egg Minder is currently unavailable through Quirky, but you can purchase online through Home Depot.
While we are in the kitchen, Drop brings us their smart home baking solution. This one is hot out of the oven and worth getting excited about. I'm not the most savvy scone craftsman, but even my interest has peaked with this bad boy.
I hope this shortlist gets you rolling with your smart home and saves you a little coin while you're at it. Remember a strong, reliable in-home network is required to operate any connected device.
