Do you have any idea how much I wanted to be Judy Jetson when I was little?
Seriously, she got to live in a futuristic, mid-century modern inspired house up in the SKY and she had all the cool stuff at her fingertips.
Moving sidewalks, robotic maids, a machine that made your lunch for you. FLYING CARS!
Who didn't want a flying car?
And now my dream has come true!
Minus the flying car part. They're just not working on that hard enough these days.
(Psst - Don't mean to interrupt, but there's a GIVEAWAY at the end.)
The other day, TP-Link sent me a few items from their new AFFORDABLE line of Smart Home products to try out. So I quickly said, "Yes, please! Can you throw Astro in too?".
It doesn't hurt to ask.
If this is all Greek to you, Smart Home product are those light bulbs, switches, plugs and such that make it so you can set your electrical life on auto-pilot. You control them all by an app on your phone.
That's it.
Just a light bulb and a free phone app and you're living the Jetson dream.
TP-Link sent me three smart home products to try out. The Smart Plug, a Smart Bulb and a Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch.
5 Reasons Why You Need Smart Home Products In Your Life
1. Never Burn Your Craft Room Counter Again
Glue guns, the Devil's torture device.
How many times have you left your glue gun on and walked off and next thing you know you either have a drippy mess on your counter or stuff starts smelling very hot and very burny. The Smart Plugs can be set to turn off x amount of minutes after you plug something in.
Glue gun, curling iron, regular ironing iron. You name it.
So for my glue gun I set it for 15 minutes.
Enough time for me to heat it up, glue my doodads to my doohickey and burn all the skin off my fingers.
Then it shuts off just about the time I'm getting carted off to the ER.
2. Turn Your Lights On From Anywhere
When you pull into your driveway after a long day of thrift store shopping you can turn the lights on from inside your car using the Kasa mobile app (Android and iOS). Mind. Blown.
Unless of course you don't want your significant other to see what you are bringing into the house (ie 4 foot tall blow mold of Rudolph), then by all means, slink in the back door and off to the basement with all the lights turned off.
I put my Smart Bulb in my vintage wall lamp in the laundry room.
I guess I could have taken the shade off so you could see the bulb, but it looks like your basic old-school light bulb, just a little bit heavier.
The light bulb they sent me (the LB130) can change colors too. They say you can choose between over 16 million colors, but I haven't gotten past 20 or so yet. Give me time!
In this photo the bulb has more of a yellow tint to it (your traditional soft-white light bulb color),
and in this photo the bulb has more of a blue tint (more true daylight color).
See, here's a side by side.
3. Foil The Robbers
Let's say you post a photo on social media of an amazing vintage motel chair setting on your front porch. Everyone is oohing and ahhing over it and everyone is jealous that they don't have it on their porch.
And then you start feeling weird that sooo many people like it.
And know where you live.
And you're going out of town for the weekend.
So with your Smart Plug or Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch you can activate the "away from home" setting from your app and the lights will go on and off randomly at different times each day. The robbers/readers will have no idea if you are home or not and your chair is safe!
Totally not saying YOU would steal my chair, but you don't know about Barbara over there.
4. Stop Practically Killing Yourself By Falling Down The Steps
I don't think I've ever shown you this room before, but we have steps in our bedroom that go up into a little loft area where my office/craft room/girl cave is (please ignore the well-loved dog bed under the steps).
I'm pretty sure the steps are not up to code since there is no hand rail on the open side of the steps. Oh yes, and they're open on one side? Who thought that was a good idea? And the light switch is at the TOP of the steps, so half the time you're navigating the steps-of-doom in the dark.
These are the same steps I fell down last year this time and sprained my ankle. Just picture me laying face down in a heap at the bottom of the steps, a bottle of glitter artfully sprinkled all over the room, shouting a few obscenities.
With the new fancy Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch, no more having to walk up the steps just in order to turn the light on. I can control the light with my cell phone and even schedule it to go off after x amount of minutes (after I'm back down the steps safely) and all that jazz.
Lacey appreciates it also (even though she's no Astro).
5. You Get To Channel Your Inner Judy Jetson
Sure, I could tell you about how they save time and energy by scheduling your light/electric usage only when you are actually using them. And you can track energy usage and all that fun stuff. But really, the biggest thrill of these things is that you are living the futuristic dream from 1962, Baby!
As I said before, we don't have flying cars, but we have light bulbs that can turn on and off for us. I finally have my Judy Jetson life!
Now if I can only get Rosie to do my ironing I'd be all set!
Valerie
I would love the light bulb so that my porch would not be dark when I get home. And I would love to have a Rosie at my house - life would be so much simpler!
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
So funny, Pam! Very cool products! I would love the smart bulbs and the light switch is very cool, too...how great to turn things on remotely...and color changes, too!
I always thought the Jetsons were great...and I have a nephew named Elroy...
Pam
Is your sister-in-law Jane? Hope you escaped the snow I was seeing on the news this morning. It looked a bit treacherous up there!
Nanci Swaim
All 3 products sound great, but I think I'd start with the smart plug. I love the idea of being able to turn things on & off remotely.
Jan
I love the idea of not coming home to a dark house, the light bulb is for me!
Annette
My sewing studio is outside off my master bedroom, when I usually leave my studio it's dark. It would be so nice to have a light I could control before I walk out into the dark!
Mary Ann
I would definitely use the plug for my iron, no more checking three times before going to bed at night to be sure it's off!
Mary Ann
Well, after reading about the light bulb--wow, it does a lot of stuff for a light bulb! I might prefer that...
Annette Kelly
I think the smart plug would be wonderful so after leaving home and then 15 minutes later wonder did I turn (name any appliance) off and then turn around and head back to home to check. Yes, we are in the age of technology! Judy Jetson would feel at home.
Pam
YES!!! I can't tell you how many times I leave my garage and start driving down the driveway and have to turn around and come back in the house again just to make sure I turned something off. It's going to save me wear and tear on my garage door opener at the very least 🙂
Lisa S
I think the Dimmable Lightbulb (LB110) would be the most convenience for me. In fact, I'm thinking it would make a great Christmas gift for my dad too! AND we used to watch the Jetson's together when I was young 🙂 I can just see my dad sitting on the couch working the dimmer with his phone, and making those ooh and ahh sounds you make when you see fireworks! (We're a silly family).
Thanks for sharing!
Pam
I've been driving my husband NUTS changing the color ever so slightly on this light bulb! Just a shade bluer here and then a shade greener there. It's fun driving him nuts though!
Barbara O
I'd love the lightbulb so I can turn it on before I come home - and not be walking into a dark house
Kirby
I feel the need to control my lights from my phone. Of course, I am a bit of a control freak!
Ann
Btw, I tried to order a switch online (I never win anything) and it says coupon code invalid. Just FYI.
Pam
Oh no! I typed it in wrong on my post!!!! It is TPLinkSmart. I am so sorry!!!! Thank you for letting me know, I'm changing it on the post right now 🙂
Ann
I would definitely get the smart plug. We live out in piney woods of east Texas and would use the away from home function. No more trying to set those awful "programmable" plugs that you can read.
Linda
(And Jane his wife.....). Thanks for sharing these products! I too like them all and would love to be able to change the color of my bulbs. As a visual person, that would be too cool. But the smart plug is most useful for my needs, as I have left the iron on.
Linda
I like the light bulbs and I love Lacey !
Joan
Great products I want them all, but would start with the smart switch. I, too, have a room with an awkward hidden switch.
Lisa Kissner Cooper
I always wanted to be Judy Jetson, too! I love that the lights can be controlled from your phone! No coming home late to a dark house!