Look to the future: Home automation

One of the coolest things about owning a home is that you can do whatever you want with it (assuming that you don't live under a HOA, that is).

We decided fairly early on that we wanted to do something special with our house. We wanted to automate the thing as much as possible!

Now, there are a few considerations to take into account when automating one's home:

• Cost - Home automation is expensive! A simple door lock can cost $200 if network enabled.
• Recurring Fees - These are the bane of any frugal homeowner's existence. Even if it's just $20/month, these fees add up!
• Coverage - Do you want everything in the house automated, or do you just want a few of the "most used" devices to be accessible?
• Purpose - Why do you want your home to be automated? Do you want security? Ease of use? Remote access? Convenience?

I mentioned recurring fees, but have I mentioned how much I abhor recurring fees? They are the worst! You can't just make a recurring fee go away, you have to keep paying it until the end of the contract term. 

Because of my aversion to recurring fees, I won't be signing up for any of the home automation systems that are offered by the telecom companies. They get you with the low installation costs, but charge you an arm and a leg to "provide you service", which consists of them doing absolutely nothing.

After eliminating 99% of the home automation options, what is left? 

1. Build my own solution - This would involve designing a circuit board, writing software for the processor on the board, and writing a web page and app for access to the automated devices. This is within the scope of what I'm capable of doing, but it would be a lot of work, and wouldn't even be reasonable to start until after I graduate law school (2017).
2. Use a prebuilt system - My favorite is the Vera system. This system has solutions from $250 to $1000 depending on which controller you want, and what accessories that you buy in the package. You can also add to the system by buying any Z-wave enabled device.

I think that the prebuilt system is going to win out. Vera already has a well built product, and apps that are clean and useful.

I would have to work a long time to get an app to look like that

When the time comes, we will hash out exactly what is going to be a part of our home automation system, but generically, we'll have some security aspects, some convenience aspects (lights and thermostat), and maybe a few efficiency aspects as well.

Getting closer to closing!

We're almost 2 weeks away from closing, and things are coming together fairly well! There's just a few things to take care of mortgage wise, and then comes the fun of signing all the documents.

Our new refrigerator!

As we have slowly rolled closer and closer to owning a house, we've made some appliance purchases as we found deals. The biggest purchase so far has been the refrigerator! We got a great deal on an LG door in door model, saving us over $1000 at the expense of a couple scratches and dents where they won't even be noticed.

I also caught a great deal on a mailer at work, getting a great garage refrigerator and a nice looking entertainment center for a total of $200!

Now, between the 2 fridges and the chest freezer, all our refrigeration needs have been taken care of.

However, right as we were rolling along, another emergency situation hit. We're not exactly unfamiliar with emergency situations after one dog got bit by a snake in the same month as $800 in emergency car repairs. Add on to that a $300 vet bill for the other dog to get sutures, another $500 vet bill for the first dog to get his herniated disk in his back repaired, and now a broken washing machine.

That's right, the 2.5 year old washing machine I bought brand new in 2011 blew a transmission all of 6 months out of warranty.

The offending Whirlpool Cabrio

I guess I should've checked the reviews on Amazon, because they're pretty mediocre.

So, after some emergency triage (yes, i found a service manual and got into the diagnostic menu), I declared this washer to be a lost cause, and we started our search for a new washer. I had a brand new copy of Consumer Reports sitting on my coffee table from the refrigerator search, and ended up giving it a quick read. I settled on either LG, Samsung, or Maytag. Given that we didn't have much time at all to sit on our hands and do research, I think we got a pretty decent deal.

We got the new washer "new in box" for $550 off of list, and $250 off of the best prices I could find.

The new Samsung washer

It's got a ton of great features!

Beyond that, there's not much more to report on the house front. We're keeping our fingers on the pulse of the riding lawn mower market, hoping to get a good deal, because that is the first thing that needs done upon our moving in.