8 Automations We Use Every Day
The Automations We Actually Use Every Day
You've all seen me designing and building my smart home over the past year or so, and I've shared bits and pieces of the automations we use along the way — but I haven't really talked much in detail about the ones we actually use all the time.
So that's what this post is about. These are a handful of the automations we use literally every day, and most of them don't rely on expensive smart devices or complex integrations — so chances are, you've already got what you need to set up a few of these yourself.
All the YAML and setup instructions for each one are linked below, over on the Automation-Dashboard-YAML repo.
Baby Lamp
When the nursery door opens, a floor lamp comes on at a low brightness — enough to see by, without waking the baby. If we open the wipe container by the change table, the brightness boosts up so it's easier to manage a nappy change, then steps back down once the container's closed again, and the lamp turns off entirely once the door closes.
It's difficult to explain quite how helpful this has been since our little one arrived. If you've got a baby, I'd highly recommend setting up something similar.
Bedtime Automatiom
This one came about when I realised I was doing the same things every night before bed, and figured Home Assistant may as well save me the 30 seconds it takes to do it myself. It doesn't sound like much, but those 30 second savings add up — and more importantly, I can't forget to do any of it now.
When the TV turns off in the evening, it's a fairly good sign we're getting ready for bed. So that's used as a trigger to turn on the bedside lamps, switch the right AC zones on and off around the house, and close the blinds for the night once we're actually settled in.
Wakeup Automation
Naturally, if there's a bedtime automation, there needs to be one for waking up too. This one turns the air conditioner back on a little before the alarm if it's cold, brings on the bedside lamps at the actual alarm time, and turns on the downlights a bit later if we're slow to get up — just to make sure we're conscious.
It's one of those automations you forget is even happening, until it stops working and you really notice.
Washing Machine / Dryer Notifications
Nobody likes it when clothes get left in the machine too long and go musty — especially when the machine finishes while you're not home, it's easy to forget there's washing in there. This automation lets us know when the washing machine or dryer finishes with a notification on our phone, but if it finishes while we're out, it waits until we're actually home before telling us. There's no use alerting us to something we can't do anything about yet.
Festoon Light Auto On
This one automates the festoon lights under our pergola. If it's dark outside and we open the blind or the back door, the lights come on. Simple, but genuinely one of my favourites.
There's also a separate piece of logic to turn them off again — either when the relevant blind is closed for the evening, or, if we leave the blind up overnight, automatically once sleep mode kicks in.
Is It Raining?
When it starts raining outside, it helps to know straight away so we can pull the washing off the line before it gets too wet — especially here in Victoria, where the weather can be pretty changeable and it's not always obvious it's raining until everything's already soaked.
This one's triggered by a rain sensor and simply notifies whoever's home. And just like the washing machine notification, if nobody's home when it rains, it waits until someone gets back and lets them know then — so the washing doesn't sit out wet for hours without anyone realising.
Britt Coming Home — Kettle and Notifications
This is the automation that makes my wife think I'm super thoughtful and attentive. I work from home, and often lose track of time — which means I'm sometimes still working away when Britt gets home, with lunch dishes left on the counter.
So when Britt leaves work for the day, Home Assistant lets me know, along with an ETA based on live travel time. That gives me a chance to tidy the kitchen before she's home. Then, as she's getting close, it arms the kettle to start boiling — so by the time she walks in, the kettle's ready to go.
Home & Away Automation
This is probably my favourite of the bunch. When both of us leave the house, it takes a snapshot of the current state of the blinds and the air conditioner, turns off the lights, starts the robot vacuum, closes the blinds, and — depending on how much solar we're producing at the time — decides whether to leave the air conditioner running or switch it off.
When we're on our way back, it restores everything to how it was before we left, closes the blinds again if it's dark out, sends the vacuum back to its dock, and turns on the porch light. It means we always come home to a freshly vacuumed, comfortable, well-lit house — while keeping energy use in check while nobody's there to enjoy it.
That's a few of the automations we use literally every day, and a little window into how we actually use our smart home. If you'd like to replicate any of these, every automation above links through to the YAML and setup instructions on GitHub.
If you give any of these a go, or have ideas for how they could be improved, I'd love to hear about it.