This post is brought to you by Blink Home Video Security. However, all opinions are 100% mine and I completely own up to being a scaredy cat sometimes.
Nearly a year ago, Grunt Labor went on a camping trip. He left on a Thursday after work. Nicky called later that evening to check on me and Landry. When I saw his number on my screen, my first thought was “Oooo. Wonder if I can talk him into coming over for a slumber party if I supply all the beer and 80’s country music?”
I am not a big fan of being alone over night.
Yes, I am 32 years old and yes, sometimes I am a big scaredy cat.
When I’m flying solo for a night, I hear every single little creak the house makes. And then my mind plays tricks on me and makes up more noises for me to hear that aren’t really there. And usually some shadows too.
That night, I toughed it out though and didn’t make Nick come over.
But I did sleep with a hammer under the bed. Because ya know, I would totally have enough time to reach under the bed, feel around for it and then sling it into the face of an attacker who was standing over my bed.
Pair my occasional scaredy-catness with a string of recent car thefts and break-ins in our neighborhood and I was most definitely ready for a little extra peace of mind when it came to home security.
Enter Blink.
When they reached out to me and asked if I might be interested in partnering together to talk about their wireless, simple install, no monthly fees home security system, I was like, Oh yea, I’m your girl.
We went with a two camera indoor system and two Blink XT outdoor cameras.
The install is super simple. There are zero wires involved. All you need is Wi-Fi and a smartphone.
You start by downloading the Blink app on your smartphone, launch it and then it walks you through everything. It took me about five minutes to get it set-up and then you just place your cameras wherever you would like them in your house. Since we got two indoor cameras, we put one upstairs and one downstairs.
The one upstairs is on the bar cart between the living and dining rooms and covers that whole area and down the hallway.
You literally just set the camera on a surface and you’re done. The indoor cameras do come with mounts if you want to mount it on the wall, but I found it easier and just as good to find a place for it to sit. It’s just a sleek little square so it blends in nicely with the decor.
Downstairs, I put the other interior camera on top of the fireplace.
Each camera comes with two batteries that last up to two years. The Blink app on your phone monitors not only your home, but also the battery life in each camera so you’ll know when to change them.
Outside, we used an included mounting bracket to install an exterior camera in the corner of one of our garage door openings.
It’s hard to even see it, right? It’s right up there in the corner. You just need a screwdriver to install the brackets and then you can move it around and angle it however you wish. The cameras all have motion detection so if someone does try to break into our cars, we’ll get a notification from our Blink app on our phone just as soon as they walk into the driveway.
The Blink XT cameras also make for a great way to send love over the wi-fi signal…
He’s a keeper. 🙂
We installed another exterior camera on one of the front porch columns.
P.S. Check out my wreath holder sans wreath. Bless my heart. I should really hang something there.
This camera is angled to look right at the steps and front door area where packages are normally dropped off. With the holiday season quickly approaching and therefore the crazy amount of visits we’ll be getting from the USPS, UPS and FedEx guys, I wanted to be able to see when packages were dropped off so that I could get them in quickly to protect against package theft this season. We have had a delivered package stolen once before and it was a huge pain to deal with.
If we’re away on vacation or at the farm, or wherever, all we have to do is open the Blink app on our phone and we’re home – well, virtually anyway. We can literally see our house while we’re not there and that is pretty cool. If we get a notification of activity, we can see what’s up and if need be, call the authorities and have it all on video.
Ready to learn more about Blink? Head right here!
