Smart Tech, Smarter Wallet: Budget-Friendly Gadgets for Perth Life
The Perth Problem
Perth is known for its often-hot weather, a relaxed outdoor lifestyle and Bunnings sausage sizzles. It’s a very large spread-out city which follows the coastline. It is approximately 150 kilometres long from Two Rocks in the north to Mandurah (Dawesville) in the south, making it the longest city in the world. I just thought of this as I started writing this article. My focus really is how everyone living in these cities need to streamline their lives without spending a fortune. Everyone from Two Rocks to Mandurah would want technology to streamline their lives and what will follow below are practical and affordable gadgets that streamline your life in simple but very effect ways. Some are serious life hacks, and some are just plain silly but fun ways to change your living environment. Where possible, I will recommend shops and providers who sell the suggested gadgets. Take note that I have no affiliation whatsoever with these providers, and their mention is for the sake of completeness more than trying to promote them. Do you own due diligence and shopping around before buying anything.
What is this about?
It’s basically a list of gadgets that I use personally or am acquainted with that make life easy or fun without putting a hole in your wallet. Some of the items can be purchased new in shops like Kmart, JB Hifi, Officeworks. Most of these shops have same day or following day delivery if needed. Other marketplaces can also include eBay, Temu and even Facebook Marketplace. I know Facebook Marketplace sometimes can feel like fishing in the weeds, but believe me, with some patience, you can get a few good catches.
Smart Home that is pocket friendly
When people hear smart home, they automatically think of expensive smart home systems running all their home systems with some centralized portal and expensive hardware. However, a smart home doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavour. A smart home can start with something as simple as lights, or smart plugs.
Smart Plugs
This option is the simplest method to have simple home automation.
What are smart plugs? Smart plugs are a compact device (or adapter) that plugs into a standard electrical wall outlet, allowing you to remotely control the power flow to any electrical item plugged into it. When setup properly, with a companion app, you can control from your phone the current passing through the device even remotely. You plug the smart plug into a regular power point. Then, you plug your appliance (like a lamp, fan, or kettle) into the smart plug. The effect is that it can turn dumb devices into semi-smart devices. Through your phone, you will be able to turn on whatever device that is connected to this smart plug. You might then say what is the advantage of this? Well, if you can remotely control the power on this device, it opens up a lot of opportunities previously not possible.
With a smart plug you will now be able to do this:
- Remotely turn devices on or off. Control your devices from anywhere with an internet connection. If you’ve left the house and can’t remember if you turned off your oven, or iron, or TV, you could check the app and switch it off from work with a few taps in the app.
- You can create schedules and timers and come up with simple automations. You can program your coffee maker to turn on at 7:00 AM every morning or set your Christmas lights to turn off automatically at midnight and save electricity and not have the light on all night. You can set your bed side fan to switch on early in the morning when you wake up and turn off after 20 mins. This scheduling is a powerful feature which you can use creatively to save yourself some electricity
- You will be able to monitor energy usage: Many smart plugs have a built-in meter that tracks how much electricity the connected appliance is using, which can help you identify energy “leeches” and save on your electricity bill.
- Most smart plugs are compatible with voice assistants like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or Apple’s Siri, allowing you to control devices with simple voice commands instead of physically using your phone.
Smart plugs are now very common and are available in most shops (Bunnings, JB Hifi, Officeworks, Costco, The Good guys et al). Prices range differ depending on brand and the number of sockets the smart plug have. Some are full on adapters with 4 or 5 sockets all of them controllable remotely. Prices start from around $15 for the single socket adapters.
https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/smart-home/connected-home/smart-plugs-and-sensors
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/collections/connected-home/smart-power
Smart Bulbs
Smart bulbs are a bit more common than smart plugs and are a bit more known and available. However, the premise is the same. Install the light bulb, connect it to your phone and control the light bulb from your phone. On the wall, the light switch stay on all the time, but on or off for the light bulb is controlled from the phone. Most of the smart light bulbs are also RGB lights meaning in addition to being able to change the dimness, you can also change the colours thereby changing the mood or atmosphere of the room.
Lights are also the simplest method to start your home automation. One can buy lights from Bunnings, and change all the lights to smart lights in a few minutes. And they are also reasonably priced now as they are a common item. You will find the normal bayonet lights or screw type making changing them a very trivial but rewarding process. If the full smart lights are too much of an effort, one can start with the motion sensing lights. These lights have a sensor at the tip which can sense movement in the room and then switch on. They are perfect for rooms like the laundry, or bathroom or toilet, or any room where you fight with the kids to switch off the lights like in our house. With the sensor lights, they switch on when they sense movement, and then after a preset time with no movement, will automatically switch of. Installation is also simple and straight forward as well.
Smart LED Strip Lights
These are a fantastic and affordable way to add ambiance to a room. You can stick them behind a TV, under a bed, or along a kitchen bench. They can be controlled with a phone app and are very easy to install. Brand names like TP-Link Tapo are a reliable choice, but even cheaper, generic options on eBay and Temu work perfectly well for a fraction of the cost.
LED Motion Sensor Lights:
These are great for dark hallways, inside wardrobes, or under kitchen cabinets. They turn on automatically when you walk by, saving you from fumbling for a light switch. These are extremely cheap and can be bought in packs from eBay or Temu. They are easy to install as they often have magnetic or adhesive strips. Some are even rechargeable.
Bluetooth Trackers (like Tile or Apple AirTag)
This is something that has become ubiquitous now, despite their seemingly high prices. These are a must-have for anyone who frequently misplaces their keys, wallet, or even backpack. Bluetooth trackers are small devices that you can attach to items you want to keep track of, like keys, wallets, or bags. They work by using Bluetooth signals to connect with your smartphone and help you locate the item. While the Apple AirTag is one of the most well-known, there are many other great options on the market like Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag2 or Tile. Because these tags use secure crowd sourcing to find your tags, it means the more your crowd, the better the chances of finding your misplaced or lost item. For example the Apple AirTag all share the Apple devices network and the same for Samsung devices. There are also other cross platform trackers that work with both networks. Do research first before acquiring one.
Bluetooth trackers are small devices that use Bluetooth Low Energy to connect to your smartphone. When the tracker is within a certain range, your phone’s app can detect its signal and show its location on a map. If you’ve lost an item at home, you can use the app to make the tracker ring, helping you find it by sound. For items lost further away, these trackers rely on a crowdsourced network—if another person with the same brand’s app on their phone walks by your lost item, their phone will securely and anonymously update the tracker’s location, which is then sent to you. For example, the Moto tag uses Google’s Find My Device network of over a billion Android devices worldwide to locate your tag while protecting your privacy. This then makes the feature very powerful and useful as just about everyone has a phone and chances your misplaced item is near someone’s phone.
https://www.apple.com/au/airtag/
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/apple-airtag-4-pack-apairtg4pk
https://www.harveynorman.com.au/motorola-moto-tag-4-pack-bluetooth-tracker.html
Portable Power Bank:
This is a no-brainer. The Western Australian climate can be hot, and phone batteries drain fast when you’re out and about. A power bank is an essential for long days at the beach, exploring the city, or just ensuring you’re not left with a dead phone when you need it most. When out and about taking lots of photos, I have noticed that my battery runs out faster. A power bank is a simple energy store to recharge your device on the go.
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/collections/mobile-phones/power-banks
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/c/technology/powerbanks
https://www.cygnett.com/collections/power-banks
https://www.kogan.com/au/shop/category/phones-accessories-8450/power-banks/
The higher capacity the better, but this comes with a size penalty. It is the larger power banks that deliver the most power. Make sure you choose one with fast charging if your phone supports it.
Kitchen & Home Life Helpers
Digital Bathroom Scale
Ok this one is controversial. Not everyone is comfortable around a scale, and this suggestion might be met with derision. But hear me out. Knowing where you stand on your weight is not a bad thing. I’m not saying do anything with that knowledge of your weight, but if you track it, you might start seeing trends, positive or negative and potentially do something about it. Most people probably already have some scale of some sort in their bathrooms. But the ones I’m suggesting are the modern ones which can be connected to your smart phone via Bluetooth. This can help you manage your health goals quite easily and adjust your lifestyles as needed without having to remember your weight trends by head. These can be found for less than $50 AUD in shops like Kmart or Big W.
After purchasing the scale, one connects the scale to their phones and the phone then monitors the weight trends for you.
Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
I’m fully aware that most families would have this already but having a waterproof Bluetooth speaker is a small superpower to have. This means that the device can be used anywhere, at home, at the beach, or at the BBQ. Lots of brands exists in this category with popular brands like JBL, or Ultimate Ears (UE) and Kogan. As with most items on my list, they are readily available in JB Hifi, The Good Guys or directly on Kogan.
USB Rechargeable Handheld Fan
I added this one on the list because my daughter was going on about it. It’s a little fan that either has its own battery or is powered by a USB cable that cab plugged into any USB port. These small fans are more powerful than you’d expect and can be used on the go. I have seen colleagues use this at the office with the small fan helping especially in summer.
This is simple, straightforward and very cheap. Available on online shops like Temu and Ebay.
Cable Protectors
The small, rubbery animals that clip onto the end of your charging cable. While it seems trivial, they prevent the cable from fraying and breaking, saving you from having to buy a new one. They are extremely cheap and sold everywhere, including in multi-packs on eBay and Temu.
Magnetic Cable Ties/Organisers
These are perfect for keeping messy cables on a desk or beside the bed tidy. They often come with an adhesive base so you can stick them in a convenient spot. This is another prime example of a super-cheap yet highly useful gadget found on marketplaces like eBay.
Universal Travel Adapter with USB Ports
While a travel adapter might not be a “gadget,” a modern one with multiple USB-A and USB-C ports is a game-changer for managing all your devices on a holiday or business trip. So this one is more for travellers to be sued outside the country. For those Bali and Thailand trips, this is a life saver.
Wi-Fi range extender
If you have a large brick house, you can find that there can be dead zones in your house where the wifi is poor, and you have to move nearer to the router to get the best internet. Or maybe when you are outside in the garden, your phone switches to 4G or 5G because the wireless signal doesn’t get that far. This device is for you. A wifi range extender is a device that connects to your current router and boosts the signal making it available to the places that are far from the router. Most of the wifi extenders are simple to setup, with one button setup available and you are good to go. Maye wifi extenders are available in Officeworks, the Good Guys and JB Hifi.
Example wifi extender
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/tp-link-ac750-wireless-range-extender-tpre200
Mini Bluetooth label maker
This one is usually a popular one especially once you introduce it to the kids. This is a small portable label printer which prints labels which can then be used anywhere. For example, beginning of the year, tagging and labelling schoolbooks, school stationary etc can be printed on the label maker. Connect your phone and design your labels and you are good to print. The printer itself is very reasonably priced and so are the labels.
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/kogan-portable-pocket-bt-label-printer-kogan/
Android Auto/Apple Car Play for your car
Most old cars have no screens allowing you to use the latest technology available with Car Play or Android Auto. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t get to enjoy them. Available are so many options to upgrade your car’s interior by providing a large screen with wireless Apple Car Play and Android Auto Built in. Place the screen someone convenient in the car and connect your phone to the device and you are good to go. All your music and navigation can now be controlled through the screen. The screen is powered through the cigarette lighter.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/226937415622?_skw=android+car+play
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/197655048956?_skw=android+car+play
Conclusion: Simplify, Don’t Splurge
This list is far from being comprehensive but is enough to open your mind on the small but useful things one can purchase to make their life that much easier and smoother or enjoyable and making your home smart. And all this without putting a big dent in your wallet.
I hope you find some of these useful, till next time, happy browsing.
One thought on “Smart Tech, Smarter Wallet: Budget-Friendly Gadgets for Perth Life”
This is very handy indeed, thank you captain