tst123What sub-$1000 investment was a game changer to your house?
0485Home automation for sure. I bought a Homey and control virtually everything in my house!
skyWow, Homey looks nice. I have a Home Assistant/Homebridge setup I’m pretty happy with, but their UI and integrations seem very enticing.
CanopyflyerUsing an enterprise grade networking equipment in the house. My setup uses PFSense (free), which runs in a virtual machine on Proxmox (free) and Ubiquiti WAPs (2 X $100). I have not heard the "Dad the wifi is broken!" call from anyone for a while.
This is a great tip. The only thing you have to watch is enterprise grade networking is usually louder and uses more power. You can replace fans to make it quieter on some equipment, but sometimes it needs the airflow. I just got a brocade icx6450-48p network switch delivered for $85, 48 poe ports and 4 sfp+ ports. You can get some great used enterprise hardware for amazing prices.
berryfairyBidet by far. <$60 USD, easy to set up, and my goodness have I never looked back. I do a lot of home improvement (and garden work) and every time I use the bidet I think, "this may be the best purchase I ever made".
how do you get a 60$ bidet?
Under the sink water filtration system. We spent maybe $300 on ours and couldn't be happier. Clear, clean tasting water where before it was sketchy at best (farm country) and no more need to fill up the Brita pitcher every single day. Took maybe an hour to set up.
We have city water, so we added a whole house water filter instead. It wouldn't be enough on its own for some, but for us it is plenty to make sure we don't have any sediment in our water.
From most to least expensive:
-
Robot vacuum with autoempty station. Scheduled to run over different areas of the house at the right times. We have pets so this is major. Bit fiddly to automate so that it doesn't clog itself on pet hair, but I figured out a good rhythm now.
-
Smart bulbs in some rooms, automated to dim at night and turn off in morning.
-
External sensor lights around the house and garage. And internal sensor lights in pantry and deep closet space.
They are small things that you feel the benefit pretty much daily.
Keypad deadbolt lock for my front door. Not a “smart lock” (I try not to have anything online outside my house). I haven’t pulled a key out of my pocket in years.
If it died I would buy one same day.
WaldowalMy attic used to have 2 light bulbs with pull chains on them. Going up there was always a battle to feel around and find the string to the light. And it was barely lit even then.
I bought these 2 led bar lights from Costco that are motion sensing. They are super bright. Now, as soon as I pull down the attic stairs, the attic lights up like the sun. I’ve had many compliments on them from workers coming over for pest control or ac maintenance.
Peg board in the garage. Organizing tools is easy now