This post is sponsored by GetSafe.
What would you save in a fire? For Chris, he always says our piano that was once his great grandmothers. And then we laugh a little because, if, heaven forbid, our house was actually on fire, the chances of us actually being able to hoist the piano up two flights of stairs are slim. I'd try to grab my old journals, precious passed-down jewelry, and the hundreds of letters Chris and I wrote to each other while I was serving a mission for my church. They're kind of our love story and I still read them over from time to time.
But Chris and I agree, our most prized possessions, above anything material, are our girls. A few years ago we had an experience where someone broke into our home when Greta was little. We were all okay, but that very day, we got a security system and soon after, Charly, for added security ;). We have had that security system ever since, and although it kept us safe, it hasn't always been the most peaceful or positive experience. When we moved here, we had to jump through hoops to get our system installed at our new home, and then they restarted our lengthy contract. They kept track of our "false alarms" (i.e. anytime the smoke detector went off, Charly set off the motion detector, or we opened the front door without unarming the alarm) and would charge us for every 3rd one, and the $60+ a month for monitoring on top of that seemed steep.
Which is why we bought out of our contract a few months ago the second we were introduced to GetSafe. There are no long-term 3-5 year contracts like we were stuck in previously and the monthly monitoring starts at just $19/month. When we looked at our budget, the price difference alone was worth it.
It doesn't hurt that the packaging was welcoming, beautiful, thought out and informative (I'm a sucker for good packaging) and we installed the whole GetSafe system ourselves, in about 30 minutes--hooray for DIY friendly!
You have the option to either screw the devices into the location you wish or use the heavy-duty 3M strips provided, so not only is it easy to bring with you if you move (a great option for renters and home owners!), it also made installing the alarms and motion detectors on all of our doors and windows a breeze. We also got a GetSafe flood detector for our utility room that sends us an alert if water is sensed and a motion camera outside of our front door for added peace of mind. We're giving away 50 of the GetSafe motion cameras at the end of the post! (Note: They are rated for indoor use, but since our front entrance is covered, we put it out there and it's been working awesome. See the very last photo in this post for a visual.)
The GetSafe system works through a sleek little white hub that we normally keep plugged into our internet through a provided ethernet cord, but it also has 3G cellular backup in case the internet goes down or power goes out. I just put it out on the end table for the photo so you can see how small it is. We actually keep it stored in Chris's nightstand normally.
We can activate, deactivate, check on areas of the house and see who's at the front door all through the GetSafe app.
Most of all, we can rest easy knowing our most prized possessions are safe whether we're home or out on adventures.
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I was curious if you have any thoughts or reviews after having this for over a year? Do you still use it? We are really intrigued but I'd love to know your opinion first hand.
We still use it! It's wonderful.
Where did you serve your mission? I'm approaching 2 years from finishing my mission and married for almost one year. it goes by so fast. Can''t say i'd serve a mission again right now, but it was absolutely life changing. :)
Peoria Illinois mission :)
This sounds like an awesome solution and I have never heard of the product before. I would like to try it out!
This would be so nice to have, just for peace of mind.
So interesting...I have been thinking about home security as two houses on our street had a night prowler!
THANK YOU!! I was recently wondering about home security for those in the very public blogging world. Particularly for home and lifestyle bloggers, you put yourselves out there and it always sucks when people take advantage and do rotten things in return. Mean people suck. Thanks for the sharing your experience, fortitude and solutions with us. Going to look into GetSafe today, we currently have ADT and they are ok but kind of expensive and I don't want to have to pay for or wait for installation for the new window we just put in. Glad we have some new options for home security. p.s. Love your new family picture!
Thank you for the post! We have a clunky old ADT system that is almost TWICE as expensive as this system per month and doesn't have any of the bells and whistles (phone app, camera, monitored smoke alarm, etc.). I just ordered a system - complete with a camera. Thanks so much!
My save objects would be my laptop (family pictures scanned onto it) and my jewelry box, which is mostly stuff that belonged to my gramma or great-gramma. I would probably be more gung-ho about an alarm system if I'd had my house or car broken into (ain't that always how it works?) but I live on a well-hidden cul-de-sac, with the side-effect that we never have break-ins on our street because it is impossible to find even with directions.
Thank you so much for this post! My husband and I have been talking about a security system, but I did not realize the potential issues with service providers, like you had previously. This sounds like a great option for our family--and our three girls!
I would love a system like that. Usually one of us is home, but there isn't a lot of visibility of my house from the street & there have recently been break ins in my 'hood.
You're my absolute favorite blog to read. Thank you for this post - I was just looking into home security. Keep doing what you're doing! ?
I have been in research mode for a good security system and I'm very intrigued by this! Gonna check 'em out! Thank heavens you were all safe and my heart goes out to your for having that happen!
I would absolutely love this! We've been searching for an affordable system.
My husband travels frequently for work and I'd love to have something like this to help me feel more secure when I'm home alone with our 3 children. Bonus that it's quick and easy to install!
This looks great...any tools that offer additional peace of mind are always welcome!
How great that this is so easy to install! I would love one:) Thanks for sharing the info!
Interested! We've been broken in once, and I lost all feeling of security in my own home for awhile.
It's the worst, most violating feeling.
My most treasured pets and perhaps one piece of handed down jewelry would be all I'd take. Maybe my phone so I could communicate.
We just moved from A condo to a house. I've been wanting a security system since my husband works nights and my son and I are home by ourselves alot. I like this idea! Thanks for sharing!
I'm intrigued! We need some sort of security system for our home, this looks like it could be a great fit for us.
I am so interested in this product! We're renting a new house and my boyfriend works overnights. I just woke up last night because I thought I heard something and this system would give me such peace of mind. Thank you for posting!
I run a home daycare and my elderly father lives with me. "Get safe" sounds like something that would benefit us here. Thank you
This is something we've thought about, so I'd be very interested in a review a few months down the road detailing what you do and don't like about the new system.
I'd love to have this. We live down the street from a high school and have had a significant amount of vandalism on our street - two new privacy fences pushed over, mailboxes knocked down, etc. This would give us some peace of mind for sure. Thanks.