These simple smart home fixes saved me hours of housework

My weekends used to disappear into household maintenance. Between vacuuming, laundry cycles, and chasing my escaped black lab Bella through neighbors’ yards, I felt like a full-time house manager. Smart home automation changed everything—not difficult overhauls, just targeted solutions for my biggest time drains. These simple fixes have given me back about 5–10 hours weekly.

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My robotic floor cleaner changed everything

At 7 AM, while I’m taking my kids to school, my Roomba robot vacuum starts doing its work. Four hours later, I walk into a house with spotless floors; it looks like someone came by and vacuumed while I was gone. This has eliminated 45 minutes from my daily routine by tackling both hardwood and carpet without any input from me.

What really changed my life wasn’t just having clean floors—it was never having to think about it. I used to vacuum whenever the house looked messy or before people came over. Now my floors stay presentable all the time, which means way less weekend deep cleaning. It picks up all Bella’s black hair and figures out how to get around chair legs and coffee tables on its own.

Weekly maintenance is maybe five minutes to dump out the bin and pull hair from the brushes. I don’t miss how much of a pain it was hauling out that clunky old vacuum, fighting with that tangled cord, and squeezing it between furniture.

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Smart kitchen and laundry appliances work while I don’t

I fire up my Whirlpool oven from the parking lot at work. As I walk through my front door, the oven’s already heated to 350°F and is waiting for me to put in dinner. This saves me from standing around the kitchen for 15–20 minutes watching the temperature climb.

Both my Whirlpool washer and dryer send alerts to my phone when cycles finish or something goes wrong. I’ve broken the habit of walking to the laundry room every few minutes to check if they’re done (or forgetting about the load until the next day)—now I just wait for the notification. The dryer sends a heads-up when lint starts building up, keeping it running well and avoiding those house fires you read about in the news.

I can see exactly how much power these appliances use and when electricity costs the least, so I’ve started to have better timing for when I run the laundry. The washer suggests the right settings for different loads, which saves water and shortens cycle times.

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Home security that actually makes life easier

The MyQ garage door app has saved me more times than I can count with deliveries and repair crews. One time, I was running behind schedule when a couch delivery showed up. Thankfully, through the app, I was able to open my garage door so the delivery people could put it inside instead of leaving it out in the rain. No more missed deliveries or frantic drives home.

I used to get halfway to work and suddenly panic about whether I’d unplugged the clothes iron. That became my regular Tuesday morning routine until I got smart outlets. Now I just check the Alexa app and kill the power to whatever I forgot. I haven’t made a panic U-turn home in months.

My Ring setup lets me see who’s at the door and check on packages through the doorbell and floodlight cameras. I can verify everything’s locked up without walking around the house, testing every door and window.

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Outdoor problems have automated solutions

Jonathon Jachura / MUO

A hydrangea tree in my side yard never got enough water from the main sprinkler system and was getting burnt, so I connected a B-hyve controller to a garden hose for drip irrigation. It waters based on actual weather and local rainfall amounts, not guesswork. Those weekly watering sessions with the hose are history, and the plant looks better than ever. And this is just one part of my smart watering setup.

Flood sensors from Ring monitor the basement, laundry room, and both bathrooms. Last month, one caught my four-year-old’s toilet overflow within minutes. I stopped a minor mess from becoming extensive water damage by getting the alert right away.

Bella’s Halo GPS collar put an end to those neighborhood search missions when she decided to go on an adventure. The virtual boundary alerts me if she escapes or if I forget to turn the GPS fence back on after our walk. The app shows her exact location, so there’s no more running around calling her name or knocking on doors.

My Camp Chef smoker hooks up to an app that monitors internal meat temperature. During those long Saturday brisket sessions, my phone gets temperature readings, so I don’t have to keep walking outside to check the thermometer. It sends alerts when it’s time to wrap the meat or once everything’s ready to come off.

Getting my weekends back

All these gadgets together have freed up around 5–10 hours in my week. I get to spend time with my wife and kids, work on home improvement projects I keep delaying, or just relax on the couch without a mental list of chores nagging at me. My advice is to pick the one household task that drives you the craziest and automate that one first.

After you see the difference, you’ll be hunting for other tasks to hand off to technology. Good smart home gear shouldn’t make your life more complicated—it should handle the mundane details so you can do what matters to you.