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Smart homes – homes where many tasks are automated or controlled remotely – are quickly leaving the realm of science fiction to become an everyday reality. Improving technology increasingly provides homeowners with affordable options to automate and exercise greater control of many of the functions of their household. The new technology, combined with simple decluttering strategies, such as converting old 8mm film to DVD, can make your home more efficient and your life far easier.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, men on average spend an hour and 22 minutes on housework each day, and women spend an average of two hours and nine minutes on housework each day. Finding ways to reduce the amount of time spent on household tasks can help homeowners find time for other pursuits, such as quality family time, returning to school for an advanced degree, or increased leisure time.
Home organization and automation can help cut into time spent on household tasks, and also relieve homeowners of some of the tedium associated with these tasks. According to Simply Productive, decluttering your home can cut the time you spend on housework by up to 40 percent. Automation technologies can save homeowners in energy expenses and other costs associated with maintaining a home.
Men and women are under pressure to make the most of every minute they have, more than ever before, as a changing economy and an always-on, always-connected society make greater claims on their time. Automating tedious household tasks and finding more efficient ways to manage the home can help free up valuable time that can be directed to more important and fulfilling activities.
Automation Opportunities
More and more American homes are adopting smart home technology to automate their homes. In recent years, there has been an explosion in the number of devices homeowners can buy to automate and control various tasks in their homes. The near ubiquity of smartphones has helped to foster this growth, as the devices give their owners a means to remotely control a number of connected devices.
IControl estimates that there are about 1.9 billion smart home devices in use today, and that by 2018 there will be 9 billion – a total equivalent to the number of mobile devices, PCs, wearable devices, and smart TVs.
According to IControl’s 2015 “State of the Smart Home” report, Americans are excited about the opportunities a smart home can provide. The study found that about 54 percent of American consumers intend to purchase a smart home product within a year. Interest in smart home products cuts across generational lines, with 79 percent of millennials and 76 percent of parents expressing excitement in smart home products.
There are a wide variety of smart home products currently on the market. For homeowners considering upgrading their homes, the following are some of the hottest smart home products:
Energy efficient water heaters and windows – Modern technology has made hot water heaters and windows extremely useful in reducing energy costs. Modern water heaters use far less energy than older models, and today’s windows do a better job of creating a thermal seal and blocking UV light than windows from decades past. While these upgrades won’t save you time, they are smart moves that will save you money.
Decluttering Your Home
Clutter can create excess housework for homeowners, as it can slow down cleaning and make finding space for items more time consuming. A cluttered home also makes finding items more time consuming. By having a neater, more organized space, and by getting rid of unnecessary items, homeowners can save time on cleaning and related tasks.
There are a variety of ways homeowners can declutter and reorganize their homes, including old-fashioned spring cleanings, or more deliberate systems, such as the Japanese Konmari method of organization.
Making better use of your available space will help you avoid the need to add on to your home for more storage space, purchase a larger home, or rent a storage unit for excess items. One way you can free up a little space in your closets or storage areas at home is by converting old home movies to DVD.
From the 1940s to the 1980s, Americans shot millions of reels of home movies. The home movie trend was particularly widespread beginning in the 1960s. Many of these home movies are sitting in closets and storage areas today, occasionally being taken out for viewing at family gatherings. Storing these important memories on a format that takes up less space can help homeowners free up room for other items. Converting 8mm to DVD also provides a more durable medium for preserving these memories, as film is fragile.
Converting Film to an Electronic Format
Just8mm.com is a leading film to electronic format service. For decades, Just8mm.com has converted clients’ Super 8 and other home movies to DVD format, reducing space needed to store these videos and providing a more durable medium for preserving them. Just8mm.com uses a proprietary process to convert 8mm to DVDs, preserving – and, in some cases, improving – picture quality. The company also archives clients’ videos, providing a backup in case their DVDs are ever lost or damaged.
For homeowners seeking to make home efficiency improvements, converting 8mm to DVD provides one option for freeing up space and decluttering their living space. Combined with other technology, film to DVD conversion can make home life much more livable.
Sources:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410889,00.asp
https://www.icontrol.com/blog/2014-state-smart-home/
http://www.bls.gov/TUS/CHARTS/HOUSEHOLD.HTM
http://www.simplyproductive.com/2012/03/time-management-statistics/