You should expect to be quite busy once the holiday season begins in earnest. There are many people to feed, many guests to host, and many candles to burn. Keeping your home utility expenses under wraps at this time might be a bit of a chore, but with a few tweaks to your smart home, you can squirrel away a few more dollar bucks and use them towards your present buying instead.
Modify Your Smart Thermostat.
During the Christmas season, you could spend more time at home than usual, so it’s a good idea to manually arrange routines on your smart thermostat. This helps the algorithm keep your home’s heating plan effective even as you make changes to the routine it has learned to expect.
On the other side, if you’re going to be away from home for the holidays, it’s a good idea to let your smart thermostat know so that you don’t waste energy by leaving the heat on full blast. Take a glance at some of the options you’ll want to tweak.
Change to Low-energy-consuming Light-emitting Diodes
If your Christmas tree lights are outdated incandescent bulbs, you may save a little of power by switching them to LEDs. Although you may feel sentimental about the television you’ve had since childhood, you should know that LEDs only use a fraction of the energy that incandescent lights do to operate. The cost is justified. While you’re about it, make them smart bulbs. That way you can ensure the tree’s only going on after it’s appropriately dark out and everyone’s still up to appreciate them.
Go the additional mile and put your Christmas lights in your evening routine for Google Home or Apple HomeKit so they turn off along with your other smart lights. Smart lights have the extra benefit of being able to animate in some very eye-catching festive hues, and they can usually be synchronized with Christmas music in real time as well. Trust us, smart lights will put your old bulbs’ twinkle mode to shame.
If you want everything to work together seamlessly, there are many fake Christmas trees available with smart lights already installed. When it comes to outdoor lighting, if you have a large installation in the front of your home, you may enjoy the same benefits and save on electricity costs.
Look for Some New Recipes When using a Pressure Cooker.
Those large family dinners that require hours of oven use will have a significant impact on your next electric bill. Cooking tasty meals while significantly reducing your energy use is as simple as doing some homework and purchasing an Instant Pot. These are fantastic for thicker dishes, and their many cooking settings provide tremendous flexibility. The slow cooker option is useful for roasts. There are also versions with built-in air fryers that can make delicious baked goods.
The most important thing is to get a model with a large enough capacity to accommodate all of your guests for Christmas dinner. If you don’t already possess an Instant Pot, read on for a review of some of the best models on the market. The value of having one around extends far beyond the winter vacations.
Smart and Advanced Water Distribution.
It’s likely that your hot water use may increase significantly if you have more guests than usual over the holidays. Your utility costs here will depend on the efficiency and type of water heater you use, but a good management system may help you get the most out of it. You may use them to anticipate your daily hot water needs and warm your tank only when absolutely necessary. Including AI in tankless water heaters is a great idea.
These smart home strategies should assist you in maintaining a manageable financial position over the Christmas season and beyond.
