These are my favorite Google home automations that I have set up

Automation is the name of the game if you want to get the most out of your smart home devices with Google Home. You can do a lot more than just control power by setting up personal or home routines. So let me share the favorite commands I’ve set up for the smart home devices in my house.

1 Control multiple lights with one voice command

This is one of the first routines I did when I was building my smart home. Some rooms in my house use multiple lights – and since I don’t want to manually turn on every switch when I enter an area, I created a routine where one starter turns on (ie. Hey Google, turn on the kitchen). on all the lights in that room. I also created a counter routine that turns off all the lights when I leave the area.

This automation saves me time because I don’t have to manually turn every switch in my room on or off. It’s also especially useful when I’m done washing dishes and cleaning downstairs—when I’m ready to go to my bedroom or office, just say “Hey Google, turn off downstairs” and it turns off the lights downstairs in my house.

I can also change it so that my voice command will control a specific set of lights in the room. When I want to enjoy TV, I just say, “Hey Google, set movie mode” and the ceiling lights turn off and the floor lamps turn on to set the mood for a good movie.

2 Automating my house’s perimeter lights based on time

Automating my home’s perimeter lights is the main reason I decided to go smart home. Since I don’t have fixed work hours, I sometimes sleep until sunset and forget to turn on the perimeter lights of my house.

To solve this problem, I created a Google Home program that activates daily 15 minutes before sunset. This routine turns on all my perimeter lights and even turns on a few interior lights. That way, even when I’m asleep or away, my house will light up, helping me feel safe. I also added another routine that runs 15 minutes after sunrise each day that turns off the outside lights, which helps me save electricity.

3 Automatic climate control based on humidity

I don’t like to go into a warm and humid room, so I record the temperature and humidity in my bedroom and office with a remote control and a sensor. I then set up a household routine in Google Home that turns on the air conditioner in dry mode when the humidity exceeds 45%. And since I don’t want to use a lot of electricity, I also set up another routine that turns off my air conditioner when the humidity drops below 35%.

When I’m working, I don’t want to turn on this automation because I prefer to control the air conditioner manually. So I also added a schedule to the routine, which means that this automatic air conditioner will only work during the day.

4 Turning on the bedroom lights and playing messages when I snooze the alarm

Waking up is difficult for most people and there have been a few times where I’ve turned off the alarm and then gone back to sleep. In order not to fall asleep and miss important things, I set a personal routine that automatically turns on the lights in my bedroom and the messages when I turn off the alarm. This way I am stimulated both visually and aurally, which makes me get up and do my work.

In addition, I also adjust my Google Nest Hub volume to 80%, set my Android phone’s ringtone volume to maximum, and turn off Do Not Disturb. This ensures that I don’t miss any notifications that might come to my phone throughout the day.

5 Programming a wake-up and bedtime routine

In addition to automating the alarm clock, I also created a wake-up and bedtime routine that prepares my house whenever I get out of bed or before I go to bed. When I say “Hey Google, good morning” to my Google Nest device, it tells me about my calendar and to-do list. It also turns on my kettle in the kitchen so I have hot water for my morning tea or chocolate to get me going.

And when my day is over, I can say “Hey Google, goodnight” to my bedroom display and it will make all my interior lights go off, turn my Android phone volume down to zero, and turn on Do Not Disturb. It also lowers the volume on my bedroom display and plays soothing music to help me nod off.

These automations help me get down to business when I start my day and allow me to relax much more quickly when I turn in for the night.

6 Launching Workday to keep me updated

Since I work from home, I don’t have co-workers physically around me to get me in my groove. So I’m replacing it with my Google Home automation. My work routine starts automatically on weekdays, but since I work nights, I changed them to start in the evening.

The first thing it does is tell me about my calendar and to-do list again at the start of my work day at 5pm. Then it reminds me to take a break two hours later. At 9:30pm the Google Nest speaker reminds me to have lunch and then tells me to go drink a glass of water and go for a walk at 11pm. At 1am it reminds me to finish.

With these automations, I can maintain a healthy work-life balance even when I work from home. I don’t spend too much time sitting and working at a desk is painless. All of these things allow me to move around my home and office more efficiently and are some of the reasons why I will always want to live in a smart home.