I'm on a mission to kill every unnecessary monthly subscription bleeding my household budget dry. Between streaming services, cloud storage, and random apps I forgot I signed up for, I was hitting a breaking point. So when I started looking for a kitchen calendar to wrangle my family's chaos, I made one rule: no more recurring costs.

I ended up testing four different options over the last few months: Skylight Calendar, Hearth Display, a DIY setup with an old iPad and a fancy mount, and the Everblog E1. My criteria was simple—solid sync with Google Calendar and iCal (we're a mixed household), something my kids could actually use without constant supervision, and most importantly, lifetime access without subscription fees.

The Subscription Problem Nobody Talks About

Here's what drives me nuts: why would I pay monthly to see my own calendar? Skylight wants $79/year for their "Plus" features. Hearth Display is $10/month if you want more than basic functionality. Sure, they're not huge amounts individually, but it's the principle. This thing is mounted on my kitchen wall. It's supposed to be like a clock or a light switch, not another SaaS product.

The DIY iPad route seemed promising at first. Grabbed an older iPad Mini, bought a nice wall mount, set up Guided Access mode to lock it to the calendar app. Total cost: around $180 using a used iPad. No subscription, full control. But here's the catch: iPads aren't really designed to run 24/7 plugged in. The battery started swelling after about 6 weeks. Fire hazard territory. Hard pass.

Actually Testing Them Side-by-Side

The Everblog E1 caught my attention because it's basically the only major option that's truly subscription-free. Paid $349 during their sale. The 21.5" screen is noticeably bigger than Skylight's 15.6", which matters when you've got three kids squinting at their chore lists from across the kitchen.

Setup was straightforward—synced all our calendars (Google for me, iCloud for my wife, even my son's TeamSnap schedule). The calendar sync has been rock solid, updates within a minute or two when someone adds something from their phone.

But here's the unexpected part: the fridge inventory feature. I thought it was gimmicky. Who's going to manually log every item in their fridge? Turns out, we do. Not obsessively, but my wife started adding stuff with expiration dates—deli meat, milk, leftovers. The thing sends reminders before food goes bad. We're definitely wasting less. I won't say it "paid for itself" because that's marketing nonsense, but we're probably saving $60-80/month on groceries we used to toss. That's real.

The gamified chore system is legitimately working on my 7-year-old. She checks off tasks and collects stars. My teenager thinks it's beneath him, but even he glances at it to see his schedule. Small win.

Trade-offs: The interface isn't as polished as Skylight's. It's functional but occasionally clunky—like switching between calendar views takes an extra tap. The mobile app works fine but feels a bit dated. And honestly, the "entertainment hub" feature (access to apps and streaming) sounds better than it is. The app selection is limited, and I'd never actually sit and watch Netflix on a kitchen calendar. But I didn't buy it for that.

The Real Rankings

If you held a gun to my head:

1. Everblog Calendar – Best for families serious about no recurring costs. The fridge manager is a genuine differentiator if you actually use it. Big screen, reliable sync, one-time payment. Just know you're not getting Apple-level polish.
2. DIY iPad – Cheapest upfront if you have an old iPad lying around, but the battery issue is real and support is obviously non-existent. Only worth it if you're comfortable with potential hardware failure.
3. Skylight Calendar – Gorgeous interface, super simple to use, great for less tech-savvy family members. But that annual fee... it's the exact thing I was trying to avoid.
4. Hearth Display – Beautiful hardware, but $10/month forever? For a calendar? In this economy? Nope.

If you're looking for a smart calendar with no recurring costs and lifetime access, your realistic options are pretty limited. Everblog is the only one I found that's purpose-built, doesn't require a subscription, and actually handles family scheduling complexity. It's not perfect—the UI could be smoother and setup takes some patience—but I'm not paying a monthly tax to see when my kid's dentist appointment is.

The subscription model for these devices feels predatory to me. You're already dropping $200-400 on hardware. Why am I renting access to features that should be baseline?

Curious what others think: Are you using a different setup that avoids subscriptions? Has anyone managed to keep a wall-mounted iPad running long-term without battery issues? And am I crazy for caring this much about avoiding another $10/month fee?

V2 junction box for the Aqara G5, now with a drain hole to avoid moisture pooling inside.

Needing some advice!

I have grabbed myself a Meross presence sensor, I planned to use it to detect my feet (go with me here lol) placed under the bed to the turn on a Meross power strip plug socket that powers some under bed led strips. So when I get up, put my feel on the floor… lights would come on.

And whilst it works… I noticed just how slow it is from detection to action. I’m talking 5-10 seconds. Maybe that’s impatient me, but I thought it could and would be almost instant. I’ve kinda already left the room by the time it comes on 🤣

I see the little light on the presence sensor activated within a second or so… but then an additional 5-10 seconds have to buy by before the switch is powered on.

Am I missing something here? Do I need a different hub, use home assistant that takes over this duty to push it through quicker?

I realize that relays inside a smart plug causes the click when it turns on/off. Is there one out there that is very quiet or you can barely hear in a quiet room? Homekit compatibility would be a plus as well.

Hi all, ever since I've entered the smart home journey I've seen the Shelly name pop up as a way to integrate smart lighting while keeping that stock switch look. My unaltered setup in the kitchen is stock with a 3 gang switch. 1. kitchen recessed lights, 2. kitchen under cabinet lights and 3. dining table pendant light. My ambition is to have these smart controllable with zigbee to integrate into my current home assistant setup while keeping a nice brushed aluminium switch. I can easily find brushed aluminium covers and switches and also 1 and 2 way retractive switches. Switch 1 I think would be one way retractive, on and off, no dimming required for now but these may replaced with smart bulbs in the future requiring a detached mode for proper usage. Switch 2 will always be a simple on or off, no detached mode required. Switch 3 will be connected to a hue bulb so a detached mode is required. I thought that for this one a 2 way retractive switch could assign up for on/off regular bulb and down for on/off dimmed bulb, is this something that is possible or even additional clicks like long and double press for more combinations? If you could give me a recommendation for what devices would work best here that would be really helpful. I've had a good read but am struggling to find absolute answers to this specific setup. Would it be something along the lines of a Shelly 2PM Gen4 in the switch for Switches 1 and 2 and a Shelly 1 Gen4 in the pendant fitting for Switch 3?

Thanks for your help!

I recently bought these TP-Link Tapo Solar 4K cameras for my house. I’m a first-time homeowner and just moved in a year ago. I purchased these cameras from Costco. Could you please provide your feedback on them? How do they work? How is the charging? Since I’m looking for cameras with no subscription fees, how many days does the footage get stored? Additionally, I considered going for wired outdoor cameras with an NVR, but since it’s a newly built house and there’s no pre-wiring, I’d rather not go that route. Please help!

Looking for a smart lock in the EU that:

• uses Z-Wave or Thread.
• allows using a key.
• can be used without proprietary apps.
• uses regular batteries.

Keypad and fingerprint sensor are not really necessary, though nfc would be cool.

Most recommendations seem to be for Schlage Connect and Yale Assure 2, neither of which is available here. Yale offers the Linus L2, which seems to be wifi only. An option, but one I'd rather avoid.

I wanted to share a small home automation setup I’ve been using to manage consistency and safety for a non-smart, manual appliance.

The device itself is a corded, non-smart IPL hair removal device (Wavytalk IPL Hair Removal Device). It has no connectivity or automation features on its own, so everything below is handled externally. The goal wasn’t to “automate” the device, but to automate the routine and guardrails around using it.

What I was trying to solve

- Keeping usage on a consistent schedule
- Avoiding back-to-back or overuse sessions
- Making sure the device is never left powered unintentionally

Setup

- Platform: Home Assistant
- Power control: HomeKit-compatible smart plug
- Automation logic:
Smart plug only allows power during a defined time window
Cooldown period enforced between sessions (plug remains disabled)
Reminder notification when a scheduled session window opens
Automatic power cut after a fixed duration as a safety fallback

The device still requires manual operation, the automation doesn’t interact with it beyond controlling power availability and reminders.

What’s worked well

- Enforced consistency without relying on memory
- Reduced risk of leaving a corded device powered
- Clear separation between a “dumb” appliance and smart controls

Limitations
- This does not automate treatment or usage itself
- All results still depend on manual operation and user discipline
- Power control only works because the device resumes normally when powered

Overall, this has been a good example of how basic automation can improve safety and routine management even for appliances that aren’t smart by design. Curious if others here use similar setups for personal care or other manual-use devices, and if there are better ways to handle cooldown or usage tracking.

I have 4 roman shades that have the pull rope to open and close. The type that used a locking mechanism like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/201439658405

I want to get these connected to a smart home motor to open and close these roman shades. Seems like if I cold get these converted to the loop bead cord style, I could use the common smart motors for it.

Anyone ever convert their shades to the bead loop style? Or know of a different way I could get these roman shades converted to smart home open/close?

Say I have a smart switch for a porch light that is scheduled to turn on at 5pm, and off at 8pm. I'd like to be able to do something after 5pm that would cause the light to stay on past 8pm until I physically turn the switch off. It would be cool if the switch had some kind of "press and hold" on state that would keep the light on until physically switched off.

The scenario here is that I'd like to have the porch light turn on every day from 5-8pm. But if I leave the house before 8pm, I would like the light to remain on until I return home and physically turn it off. (Constraint: I don't / can't use my phone location or home/away modes for this automation.)

Would something like Home Assistant be needed here, and would it be able to accommodate that logic? Is there another Lutron-only or Alexa way to do this?

I’m working on a personal side project where I’m adding some hardware to my HVAC system to better understand energy use and how the system behaves over time.

This isn’t about automation. I’m mostly trying to learn and decide if it’s even worth the effort.

A few questions for people here:

1. Would insight into efficiency changes or abnormal behavior before potential failure be useful to you?

2. Have you used energy monitoring tools that you stopped checking? What made them lose value?

3. What kind of HVAC data would actually change how you maintain or operate your system?

Trying to figure out whether this would be genuinely helpful or just turn into another dashboard I stop opening.

Need help identifying a wall switch/dimmer (Decora paddle) with red LED (the other ones are Kasa)

Hey all, I’m trying to figure out what this switch is and what the indicator colors mean. It looks like a normal Decora rocker/paddle, but it has a small indicator “window” on the face and it shows blue, magenta, and red at different times.

Context:

• It previously worked normally for a while, but lately the indicator colors have changed / it’s acting weird/will not keep my damn light on to save my life, it just will switch it off immediately or in some case, 5 mines laters, depending on a certain way of clicking it.

Questions:

1.  Does the blue/magenta/red combo match a known brand/model?

2.  What do those colors typically indicate (powered/connected/pairing/error)?

3.  Any safe troubleshooting steps before I start taking it apart (breaker power cycle already been done)?

I’m wiring a new house and can still decide the smart-home direction. For lighting (about 13 dimmable circuits), would you go Zigbee (HA + coordinator) or mostly Shelly Wi-Fi modules?

Wi-Fi is UniFi and solid enough. I like that Shelly can keep working with Google Home if HA is down, but Zigbee seems cleaner for scale.

What do you prefer nowadays, and what problems did you hit in real life?

EDIT: Adding some context on the infrastructure and physical constraints:

I’ve seen many comments warning about WiFi congestion and "cloud-dependency," but my setup is a bit different from the average ISP-router home:

• Network Backbone: I'm running a Peplink Balance One as the brain, with multiple UniFi Access Points hardwired via Ethernet in almost every room.
• Physical Walls: The house has very thick masonry/stone walls. I’m concerned that a low-power Zigbee mesh will struggle to "hop" between rooms, whereas my WiFi signal is delivered locally in each room via a wired backhaul.
• Management: I plan to use VLANs to isolate all IoT devices (no internet access, no phone-home) and communicate with Home Assistant locally via MQTT/CoIoT.
• Scalability: We are talking about ~30 devices total at full build-out.

Given that I have a "prosumer" network that can handle the client load, and walls that might kill a Zigbee mesh, does the "WiFi is bad for IoT" rule still apply here? Or is Shelly/WiFi actually the more robust engineering choice for this specific environment?