If you’re able to get out the door in the morning without rushing, we salute you. We should probably take some lessons from you. But the rest of us, we usually do about twenty-six things as we leave for work each day and probably forget another two in our hurry. Some of them can’t be done once we’re gone. If the thermostat’s not adjusted when we leave, then the house isn’t saving energy when we’re not there. This is a problem.
But with Staples Connect, you can automate things like this and not have to worry about missing something again. To make this activity:
- Open the app or go to my.staples-connect.com.
- Click Activities.
- Click New Activity (+). Name the Activity “Off to Work.”
- Choose the time you usually leave for work. (You might want to consider choosing a time ten minutes after you usually leave for work, just to give yourself some buffer.) The Activity will run at the time you choose.
- Choose the devices you want to control during the Activity. If you’re not sure where start, consider adding:
- All the lights in your house
- Thermostat
- Locks
- Click Choose, then tell each of those devices what they should do. For the sample devices we listed above, the lights should be off, the thermostat should be lowered, and all the doors should be locked.
You can adjust the device settings manually, grab the current settings, revert to the original settings, or test the settings before saving them. - Staples Connect can send you an email or push notification when your Activity runs. To set up a notification for your Activity, enter the text for your notification (up to 140 characters) and select the users who should receive the notification. If you don’t want to set up a notification, click Skip.
- When you’re satisfied with everything, click Finish.
Now you can walk out your door without having to worry about the lights, thermostats, and door locks. Making your lunch is still on you, though.