Carley Knobloch

THIS is where to shop for Instagram-worthy arrangements this year.

You dream of having a smart home the way others dream of having a closet full of designer shoes. The only problem? You’re on a budget, and smart home solutions are way beyond your means… Or are they? It’s true that just like designer shoes, many smart home devices and systems come with a high price tag. Truth: High-end connected appliances and kits costing thousands of dollars are nice, but they aren’t essential to creating a smart home experience.

When it comes to TVs at home, there are two teams. Team Hide That Thing Away does not want that distracting piece of technology messing up their design story, and they’d rather put it behind pocket doors or in a piece of furniture. And then there is Team Hail To The Screen: The Television, in all its glory, IS the design story, and the size is only limited to how large a screen can fit through the front door.

Amazon’s Echo, a Bluetooth speaker powered by voice assistant Alexa, burst on to the scene a couple years ago and instantly captured the hearts and minds of consumers. You could hear the collective cry: voice control is finally here! Of course, there was lots of voice control on the market already (including Apple’s O.G. Siri), but Alexa was the first out of the gate that promised—and delivered—on making voice commands useful in the home.

In the early age of technology, products and devices weren’t always pretty to look at. Computers were clunky, TVs were monstrous, and— if you can remember this— phones were beige and tethered to the wall. Shudder. Then Apple came along and changed all that, by making us lust after their beautiful designs. They understood that, as tech jumped off your office design and became personal, the consumer would want style just as much as they want function.

I’m going to go out on a whim and guess that at least one of your New Year’s resolutions will focus on health. Let’s dive deeper, shall we? Does this particular resolution have to do with improving your personal health? I thought so. You might think your resolutions should start well after the New Year, but the truth is, now is the time to set yourself up for success. One of the easiest ways to do this is to add some of these smart wellness and fitness gadgets to your list.

This month we’ll be sharing solutions that are so simple and easy—and at times, automated—that they feel like magic. Hocus Pocus celebrates all the small ways you can trick yourself into living a better life. If you jumped on the bandwagon and watched Stranger Things recently, you’re probably looking for ways to feel less creeped out every time you wake up to go to the bathroom at night and have to walk down that long, dark hallway.

Okay, so we haven’t quite made it to the Jetsons era where Rosie the robot does all the household cleaning, then has dinner ready when we get home. But in 2016, you can invite a robot into your home to help with at least one chore: vacuuming.

Passive aggressive refrigerator notes. Arguments about how to split the utility bill. Dust bunnies that Just. Keep. Growing. These are just a few everyday scenarios that illustrate the ways in which living with roommates can be challenging (to say the least), whether those sharing the space are best friends or total strangers. Thankfully, tech can help.

If you’ve already invested in a Nest Learning Thermostat ($249) or have read about the smart device, you likely know about some of the perks—but not all of them. Nest allows you to turn up the AC from your iPhone when you’re about to head home on summer’s hottest day, open utility bills that have dropped significantly thanks to the smart Auto-Away mode, and just generally live in a world where the temperature is perfectly regulated at all times.

Smart Home technology has exploded in recent years, and it’s been a challenge to keep up with what’s available, what’s compatible, and what’s getting positive reviews. It has also been a really exciting time for those of us with small homes (and budgets), since DIY smart home technology is affordable, easy to install, and often ideal for small spaces (even if you don’t own yours).

In the 1950s, families around the nation would simultaneously crowd around their TVs to watch Ed Sullivan or whatever prime time show was on. Seems hard to imagine now, since the options are endless for what we choose to watch, when we watch, and where we watch. All of this choice has made it difficult to do something as simple as watch TV, but it also means savings for the consumer. Grab your remotes, because it’s time for a primer on how to watch TV now.

Holiday entertaining is in full swing, and I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t do everything by myself. Gone are the days when I slaved over the styling, the shopping, the cooking and cleaning on my own: Lessons were learned during the Great Blender Explosion of 2011 and the Cannoli Stuffing Incident of 2008.