Easily Transform Your Home Into a Smart Home

This post is sponsored by Walmart and SheKnows Media.

If you guys have been following along on my IG then you may know about a very exciting thing that just recently happened to me — I bought a house! Words cannot even begin to explain how happy and eager I am to get all settled into my new place but I’ll be honest, there is quite a bit of work to be done so I’m staying put until everything is finished. With the purchase of a new home however, I have been doing a LOT of research and with that means I wanted to upgrade in a big way – meaning I wanted to go the smart home direction.

I’ve never actually had a smart home in the past. In fact, it kind of terrified me to be honest. I’m not the best when it comes to electronics, hooking things up and understanding all the new gadgets but seeing all the features that a smart home could provide just made me want it even more. Another thing I wasn’t too keen on? The price. I did a ton of research and finally found a few key products from Walmart that wouldn’t break the bank and would successfully turn my existing home into a smart home and easily transfer to my new home when the time comes and I’m SO excited to share it with you guys!!

First of all, the entire 7 product system that I purchased cost $500 and I’ll be honest that is SO inexpensive compared to so many other smart homesystems I had been researching so I knew it was worth it to begin with. Next, I was able to set up ALL 7 competently by myself in a few hours. Not only is the entire system super convenient but it will help save money on your cable bill, decrease energy usage and security costs. Pretty awesome right?

Here’s a bit about the different products I purchased…

Google Home Mini:

The Google Home Miniis a voice-controlled speaker that can be used to play music, control smart home gadgets, answer trivia questions, add things to a shopping list, create calendar appointments, or play video on a Chromecast-enabled screen. I am obsessed with it and literally don’t know how I lived without it before. Sometimes when I’m cooking and need measurement conversions I’ll even ask it and it will tell me in a quick second. On top of it all, it’s super sleek, modern and can hide anywhere or be a cute display piece I think!

Merkury Innovations Smart Camera

I love this camera since it allows you to watch over your home with quality recordings plus speak and listen to those on the other end. It sends motion alerts to your phone to let you always know what is happening in your house. It definitely provides security and peace of mind when you need it. One main thing to point out is that it is SO tiny it will fit anywhere you want to discretely place it!

Merkury Innovations Dimmable White Smart Bulbs

Okay you guys, these are AMAZING. I had been searching forever to find some smart bulbs and all the ones I had found were ridiculously expensive and I couldn’t justify spending outrageous amounts of money on them until I found these at Walmart for only $9.88 per bulb! These bulbs are as bright as traditional bulbs for use throughout your home. You can manage your lighting from across the room or even across country using the Geeni app or using voice commands on your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. I love this for the fact that if you are out of town and you want to make it look like you are home, you can actually turn on your lights remotely from anywhere! It’s such an amazing feature to have! Walmart also has some of the multi-colored ones, although, I just stuck with the simple regular ones.

Linksys Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi

With all of these smart home products using my Wi-Fi connection and considering my entire business depends on Internet I thought another essential product was the Linksys Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi system. If you are not familiar with this, it is basically a Wi-Fi booster. It provides seamless Wi-Fi everywhere and continuously optimizes to find the fastest path to the internet. Unlike traditional routers with range extenders, each node provides a powerful Wi-Fi signal throughout your entire home. And as your home and family expands, you can easily add more nodes. Pretty awesome right? I mean, let’s be honest, nothing is worse than being in one part of your home and having a poor signal so I’m loving this system to keep me connected at all times. Plus, they are so small and match my decor perfectly.

Google Chromecast

To be honest, I have been wanting to take the plunge and get rid of my cable for years now but could never seem to actually do it. I ended up getting the Google Chromecast since I heard so many amazing things about the device and I’m now fully convinced I don’t need cable any longer. Chromecast essentially operates like a provider box except you just download all the apps that you need. You can use YouTube TV (which is a fraction of the cost of cable), Netflix, HBO Now, Spotify and so much more. Trust me, this is definitely the way to go. Plus, if you are interested in the Google Chromecast and Google Home Mini,Walmart has an exclusive bundle for only $59! Such a steal!

Nest Learning Thermostat

I might have been most excited about this purchase. As you guys know I did an IG poll a few weeks ago asking you all if the Nest thermostat was actually worth the splurge and I got an overwhelming response of, “YES!” I was so excited to hear this and just knew I had to have it, so I of course added this to my smart home order. For those of you not familiar with it, the Nest Learning Thermostat learns the temperatures you like and creates a custom schedule for your home. Nest automatically turns itself down after you leave so you’re not heating or cooling an empty home. You can control it from anywhere using your phone, tablet, or laptop. And Energy History lets you see how much energy you use and why. In independent studies, Nest saved an average of 10-12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. That means it can pay for itself in under two years. Plus, installation is SO easy, it comes with everything you need and you can do it all yourself!

Do you guys have a smart home or are you thinking of getting some of these products? If so tell me about it, I’d love to hear your thoughts since I’m still a newbie to the space but so far, I’m absolutely loving it and highly recommend you guys check out the products I mentioned above! You can also shop the rest of Walmart’s Smart Home products here!