Winter is in full swing and my home has been quite chilly. We’ve got almost 12″ of snow on the ground and last night my thermometer dipped below zero. My daughters kept getting out of bed mumbling “I’m cold” as they climbed into bed with us. Their miniature toes were like potato bugs made of ice, wriggling their way into those warm spots right behind my knees. Once my teeth stopped chattering we all warmed up enough to slip into a semi-restfull sleep, but it seemed like the more comfortable their miniature bodies got the more they would spread out, hogging all the blankets and kicking me as they tossed and turned. The debate raged in my mind: do I dare the cold to put them back in their beds, or hope they get comfortable and fall into a temporary coma? Another unintentional kick to the groin and I had my answer.
One by one I carried their limp bodies back to bed and tucked them in, staggering back to bed like a zombie from AMC’s The Walking Dead. As I lay awake struggling to un-pause the dream they had interrupted earlier I find myself wondering “How do I keep my house warmer without spending the kid’s college funds on the energy bill?” (Which really means: “How can I keep those girls warm enough that they won’t disturb me at night?”)
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| After logging in, click “emPower” and then “Thermostat” |
The answer, in part, could be in the settings offered by my Alarm.com account. There’s an “emPower” tab which gives me the ability to optimize the settings of my thermostat to save money and keep my home warner when I’m home.
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| The Thermostat tab shows you current interior and exterior conditions and gives you options to make adjustments to your programmed schedule |
Clicking on “ShowSmart ScheduleActivity Pattern” shows me when I’m most likely away from home. Its based on arming habits and motion detection inside my home and I use this information to make adjustments to my schedule. For example, I know that every Sunday my family goes to church. No reason to run the heater the whole time we’re gone, so I drop the temperature while we’re out.
The other thing I do is activate the “Away from Home Thermostat Override” which adjusts my heater when I arm my panel in “Away” mode. This not only overrides my current schedule to save me money, but encourages me to keep my home safer by arming my system. After all, saving a little money on my energy is a great motivator to keep that panel armed as often as possible. And if I can save a bit more money during the day, perhaps I can afford to turn it up a little at night, keeping those ice-cube-tootsies in their beds where they belong.
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| Want to save even more money? There’s a button at the bottom of the page to help! |
In my opinion the beauty of the whole system is the access. Whether I use my smartphone, my IQ Panel, the IQ Thermostat itself or myAlarm.com account online, I can make adjustments on the fly wherever I am and whenever I like. You know why? Cause I’m ALWAYS CONNECTED!