Everyday smart thing-a-bobs?  Yes!  My first time using a “smartified” commonplace product a few years back was our new laundry washing machine which was Wi-Fi capable.  My wife & I thought: “Isn’t this useless?” and turned out to be no as it’s useful.  Because I cannot hear the end of the laundry cycle, this is pretty useful to know when it’s time to rotate things and my phone tells me when.  Same with the new refrigerator with it’s “doors open for x minutes” notifications. I guess you’re seeing a trend here.

One I just ordered and waiting for is a clock designed for dementia patients, with large fonts, multilingual, alarms with audio, etc. These usually do not connect to a smart home hub but I noticed recurring questions from my mom about the day of the week. The SD slot in the back is to add an SD memory card with your voice messages like “it’s 8AM take your medicine” so similar.

To help out here is a list of devices and gizmos which can work in a smart home context, and can help manage things in the context of Alzheimer’s:

• Smart washers & driers as mentioned
• Smart large kitchen appliances like the refrigerator, range and dishwasher
• Air purifiers
• Sound systems / stereos / speakers
• Exercise equipment
• Smart countertop ovens and microwave ovens
• The famous Instant Pot is now Wi-Fi
• Coffee makers
• Trash cans (hey I’m full empty me!)
• Air conditioning units (you can add “smart controllers” like the Sensibo or Mysa if you have an old AC unit) 
• Pet feeders like this model from PetSafe so the furry friends don’t go thirsty or hungry
• Christmas trees
• So many more!

Now let’s turn this stuff into an advantage – what is your use case?  Stuff left on and keeps on heating? Gets hot in the house? You want to be notified? We can now look at what keeps us up at night and manage it. If you have ideas please send them over!

Is this a bit excessive?  Depends of your situation. Is it fun?  For me, yes.

Next thing I would do is to take a look at the appliances you own, especially the most recent ones. These may be “smart home enabled”, here are some common brands and their smart home tech:

• Samsung SmartThings
• LG ThinQ
• Whirlpool
• KitchenAid
• Maytag
• GE SmartHQ
• Bosch Home Connect
• Miele@Home
• Frigidaire 2.0 App iOS or Android
• Electrolux App iOS or Android

From there see if and how you can get them to talk to your hub of choice or use Google Home / Alexa to interface as well. A thawed out freezer is no fun and expensive, let’s prevent such mishaps!