How a Smart Home can lower your Anxiety?

Does this describe something you have experienced before, you are out with a few friends, and suddenly you think, did I turn the oven off. Or did I turn my straighteners off.

Sadly, it is human nature to forget things that can be so mundane as turning off a dial or a switch. We all have much more pressing things on our mind. Yet, when we think on these things, the heat rushes through our body, our brain starts to tick over, our heart rate increases and it is all we can think about. Until we get home, we cannot think of anything else, but you get home and you had turned them off in the first place.

So how can we address each of these problems:

The straighteners/curling iron being left on:

We have a simple yet effective way to counteract this in our home. We have a dedicated socket on our smart Extension lead (Click here for the one we use) that is for my Wife's straighteners/Curling Irons. This has an automation, where that after 30 mins, it turns itself off. You might think, but what if it takes her longer than 30 minutes, well simply she hits to button to start the timer again, and the timer is reset. This effective way of tackling this problem, ensures that without us even thinking, there is no risk of these being left on for greater 30 minutes. Sadly, I have not thought of a way to make it so that as soon as these are completed, the socket turns off, but this gives me the peace of mind to ensure that we can enjoy our time out of the house.

The Cooker being left on:

The options here can be as easy as the solution above, this depends on the type of connection your cooker has and whether it is plugged into a standard 13a socket, or if it is hard wired. Sadly, this is not something we can see until you have taken out your Oven. If it is simply plugged in, follow the steps above with a smart plug (Like this one). I would not recommend having this on an automation (especially if you like the clock on your oven to be correct), but having the option to turn off the oven, if you have left it on by accident is a brilliant option.

If your Oven is hardwired (the wires go directly into the oven from the local switch) this will require a qualified electrician. The electrician will need to relocate the cabling of the cooker through a 40 amp contactor, using a smart relay to switch the contactor off in the even that the oven has been left on. Again, I would not recommend that this is automated, but it is a nice option to have in the event of the oven being left on.

If you can think of anymore, feel free to share in the comments, we would love to hear them. 

Sadly, with Anxiety being so prevalent, I think  that this shall be a reoccuring theme as I start to look into other ways that a smart home can help you cope with these anxious times.