Stick & Signal.

Renter guide

What to Use Smart Plugs For: 15 Renter Ideas

A smart plug is the cheapest smart-home win there is — here are the genuinely useful ways renters put one to work.

By Stephen V.Updated How we pick

How this is funded: we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which product we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

If you buy one smart-home device, make it a smart plug. It costs a few dollars, needs no hub and no wiring, and it turns anything that plugs in into something you can control by voice, on a schedule, or from across town. For a renter that’s perfect: nothing is installed, nothing is altered, and it leaves with you. The hard part isn’t setup — it’s realizing how many everyday annoyances a two-dollar plug quietly solves. Here are fifteen.

Lighting and ambiance

  • Put lamps on a schedule.Have the living-room lamp come on at sunset and off at bedtime automatically — the single most-used smart plug trick.
  • Control string lights and non-smart LEDs.Voice-control the fairy lights or under-shelf strips that don’t have an app of their own.
  • “Turn off everything” at the door. Group your plugs so one command kills every lamp and gadget as you leave.

Security and away-from-home

  • Fake occupancy while traveling.Randomized lamp schedules make an empty apartment look lived-in — cheap, effective deterrence that pairs well with a no-subscription security kit.
  • Turn things off from anywhere. Left the iron or a heater on? Kill it from your phone at work instead of driving home.
  • Power-cycle a stuck router.Put your modem/router on a plug and reboot it remotely when the Wi-Fi drops while you’re out.

Kitchen and morning routine

  • Wake up to coffee.Plug in a simple (switch-style) coffee maker and schedule it — as long as it starts brewing when power returns.
  • Slow cooker peace of mind. Switch a slow cooker off remotely if lunch is running longer than dinner.
  • Never leave the curling iron on. An auto-off timer on the bathroom outlet is genuine peace of mind on the way out the door.

Comfort, work and everyday

  • Schedule a space heater or fan.Warm the room before you get up, cool it before you get home — within the plug’s rated load (see safety below).
  • Automate a humidifier or air purifier. Run it on a schedule instead of remembering to switch it on.
  • Stop phantom draw. Cut standby power to a TV/console setup overnight.
  • Time holiday decorations. The tree lights turn themselves on and off without a cheap mechanical timer.
  • Charge on a schedule. Limit device charging to off-peak hours or overnight.
  • Voice-control a hard-to-reach outlet.The lamp behind the couch you can never reach becomes “Alexa, lamp off.”

The one thing to get right: what NOT to plug in

A smart plug is switching real mains power, so respect its limits. Don’t exceed the plug’s rated load — many are sized for lamps and small electronics, not a big space heater, window AC or a microwave. Don’t put anything on it that must never lose or unexpectedly regain power (medical devices, aquarium life-support). And buy a UL-listed plugrather than the cheapest unbranded one — it’s the difference that matters most for safety. We cover the full picture in are smart plugs safe?Get that right and the plug is the best few dollars you’ll spend on your apartment.

Frequently asked questions

What can you use a smart plug for?

Anything that plugs in and has a simple on/off: lamps, fans, coffee makers, space heaters, string lights, a TV, phone chargers, and more. You can control it by voice or app, put it on a schedule, turn it off from anywhere, and use it to fake occupancy while you're away. It's the cheapest, most flexible smart-home device there is.

What should you NOT plug into a smart plug?

Anything that must never lose or regain power unexpectedly, or that draws more than the plug's rated load. Avoid medical devices, aquarium life-support, and high-draw appliances beyond the plug's amp rating (many are rated for lamps and small electronics, not big heaters or AC units). Check the plug's rating and the appliance's draw, and prefer a UL-listed plug.

Do smart plugs work with dumb appliances?

Yes — that's the whole point. A smart plug makes any 'dumb' plug-in device controllable, as long as the device turns on when power is applied. It won't add features to something that needs a button pressed each time (some newer appliances default to 'off' after a power cut), so test that your device powers on automatically before relying on a schedule.

Can a smart plug save money on electricity?

A little, mostly by cutting standby draw and making sure things actually turn off. Some smart plugs also report energy use, which helps you spot a power-hungry device. The savings are modest, but scheduling a space heater or turning off forgotten electronics does add up over a lease.

Sources

Keep reading