Simplify

Make Things Easier With Appliance Timers

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.


Photo by chrisjtse

So many things come with timers these days: coffee makers, televisions, thermostats, and now through wi-fi enabled equipment, anything that plugs in can be set to timer via your phone.

But other items can be used in conjunction with appliance timers to either replace more expensive models with built-in timers, or to add the functionality in to the item.

Coffee

I once had a very expensive and sophisticated coffee maker. It did many things related to coffee, including purifying the water and turning on the coffee pot in the morning, and turning it off after a certain amount of time.

The only feature I truly used on that coffee pot was the brewing function and the timer. The rest sat unused.

When my coffee pot broke 2 days after the warranty expiration, I was annoyed. I didn’t want to spend that kind of money again, just to have it break a year later. And given what features I used, I decided to see if there was an alternative.

A simple appliance timer gives me what I need. It is set to start up at a given time in the morning, and to shut the coffee pot off a few hours later. The appliance timer has an override switch so that I can start and stop the pot manually using the switch on the machine. So I attached an appliance timer to a dependable Mr. Coffee machine, and I haven’t looked back.

Savings: about $200.
Making things easier: my coffee is ready when I get up in the morning, and I never come home to a burnt pot because I forgot to turn it off.

Lights

Coming home after dark to a darkened house is never fun. Plus, no lights on signals to everyone that there is no one home. Some evenings I would forget to turn the outside lights on…or wake in the morning to find they were on all night. Or I would get ready for bed, just to discover that a light was left on downstairs.

We use two different types of appliance timers to deal with lights. The first have an auto light sensor on, and turn on when the light level gets below a certain point. We use these in our outdoor lamps, as well as a few lights within the house. These light timers will turn off in a number of hours after their initial on.

The other type of timer is the standard appliance timer. I use this on my bedroom light. Why? When the light goes out, I know it is time to get to bed. Otherwise I will stay up far too late doing important things like playing Whirly Word, or Words With Friends.

Oven

Piano days are rushed for us. I get home from work, my daughter gets home from school and we need to leave for piano, just to get home around the time we normally eat dinner. No one in my house is nice to be around while hungry, so I use the timed bake function on my oven to prepare a casserole while we are gone.

I put the frozen dish in the oven, set the temperature, set the start time and the cook time, and come home to a piping hot dinner. Salad from a bag into a bowl, and dinner is ready.

(Please don’t use the oven timer to cook things when you are from home many hours…food and fire safety is important!)

Conclusion

By using simple timers with my appliances, my life gets easier. Do you use timers? What do you use them for?


Photo by chrisjtse. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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