Controlling Your Home With Your Phone? Now That's Smart.

I do not understand the appeal of many smart home devices. I’m not saying that I’m against them or that I won’t get an Echo or Google Home or whatever in the future. But right know, I have no idea how an electronic home assistant would fit into my life. Like I said, though, I’m sure one of these gadgets is in my future. There will be some way that this technology becomes indispensable to me, but I just can’t see it yet. One smart home doohickey that I’ve grown immensely fond of, though, is the smart plug.

I got a pack of two smart plugs before Christmas, because I didn’t want to contort my body into the corner where my Christmas tree plugged in. It was immediately one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. You control the smart plugs through an app or, and this is where I tie things back into smart home hubs, you can use voice control on an Echo, etc.

I took a picture of my own smart plug plugged in, and I was so embarrassed at the state of my outlet plate and baseboards that I am using this perfectly lovely image I found via Google dot com. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Now that Christmas is over, I have one smart plug on a little table lamp in my living room that isn’t difficult, but certainly isn’t easy to turn on. The other plug is on my printer, which is wireless. It kind of defeats the purpose of a wireless printer to have to get up and turn it on, and then go back to your laptop and print something from your couch, so a smart plug is a great option. I don’t leave my printer on all the time, but when I need it, I just toggle the switch on my phone, and the printer explodes to life. Literally. I scares the dog.

Connecting the plugs to your wifi network is incredibly easy, and using the app is a breeze. I mean, I also only have two, so it’s not a lot to manage anyway. You can do all kinds of stuff with the Kasa App, like setting timers and scheduling certain commands, but I just use it to toggle my lamp and printer on and off, so I am barely using the tech to its full potential.

If you have a hard to reach outlet or a lamp that’s just a pain in the ass to turn on and off, a smart plug is a great solution. I will say, though, that I’ve seen hugely varying prices for these. I bought a two pack of these plugs for about $25. That same two pack that I bought is now $45 on Amazon. So shop around! Or use Honey to help you know when’s the best time to buy. Then park your cute butt on the couch and never get up to flip a switch again!

The featured image for this post, FYI, is from this SNL sketch from 2001 that I always think of when anyone talks about the latest hot tech. Turning your entire home into a smart home? I’m picturing you as Will Ferrell using a Barbie-sized cell phone.