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My husband and I have been talking about slowly converting our home into a smart home, starting with a video doorbell. Our obstacle was the cost. We are on a financial journey, where our focus is saving for our future and paying down our debts as fast as possible.
This means no frivolous purchases, which had left our smart home thoughts as just dreams and not reality for now.
What Changed
We live in a very small town. Recently there has been some crime and break-ins in the bigger city about 30 minutes away from us. That crime has slowly started creeping toward our small town.
Not too long ago, over 80 people had their cars ransacked and things stolen from them in our small town. We keep our cars locked at all times so we didn’t have any issues, but a lot of our neighbors did.
There were no forcible break-ins or anything like that but my husband and I decided to get a video doorbell just for peace of mind. I have a lot of anxiety and the thought of having some sort of security in place for my house, eases my mind.
We bought the Ring doorbell. We are not paying for the monthly service so we paid a flat rate of $99. This was the most basic doorbell offered, but they have lots of upgraded models and various other security items available.
Installation
We already had a wired doorbell before so we were able to wire the new doorbell too. This way it will charge itself. If you don’t have a wired doorbell already, you can still get a Ring doorbell, you will just need to charge it when the battery gets low.
One Problem
The instructions were very simple to follow, but our doorbell had three wires instead of two. The video tutorial only discussed two wires, but we just attached the wires the exact same way they had been on the old doorbell and that worked fine.
We only had one issue. When we turned out power back on, the doorbell chime just rang continuously. It was a very low humming noise coming from the chime box.
My husband easily fixed the issue by taking the doorbell off and reattaching the wires so they DID NOT TOUCH at all. If they touch at all, it will not work properly.
How It Works
We set it up using an app on our phone. We get notified if there is movement within 10 feet of our door. This way we don’t get movement from cars driving by.
If the doorbell detects movement we get a push notification on our phone. We can pull up a live video on our phone and we can even speak to whoever is at the door.
In the app, we are able to adjust the motion areas if it picks up street motion. We are also able to snooze the doorbell if we are at home and do not want to receive notifications. I never snooze it because it makes me feel less anxious when it’s on.
I Love It
Having a video doorbell has eased a lot of anxiety I used to have. It makes me feel a lot more secure and at peace when I am home alone.
I know exactly who is at our door or who had been to the door.
This is going to sound so strange to some people, but if I hear a noise while I’m in the shower I always used to get freaked out and wonder if someone was breaking in. Now I know that’s not the case. I don’t need to worry about that because if someone was at the door, I would get a notification.
It just helps me sleep more soundly at night and helps me be more comfortable being alone at my house. I now have a lot more peace of mind and less anxiety.
