Stop! Don’t throw away your old baby monitor,
sell it on eBay or give it away on Freecycle. If you think that baby
monitors are simply for keeping an eye on your baby, you’re much
mistaken. You may not realise it but they can in fact offer many extra
uses!In fact, looking out for your baby is only one use for a baby
monitor, and we’ve come up with dozens!Here are nine of our favourites.
1. Listen out for the postman.
If you have a doorbell, it’s not always easy to hear it, especially if you’re in the garden. If you don’t have a doorbell then it’s terribly easy to miss whoever is at the door, only realising later when you find one of those horrid little ‘Sorry you were out’ cards poked through your letterbox. By placing a baby monitor near the door, and keeping the other unit nearby you, you’ll never miss a parcel delivery again. Of course, if you have a video monitor you can hook up the camera unit to look out of a window so you can see who’s at the door; you will never need to leap up from your garden chair again to answer the door to a salesman!
2. Don’t burn the dinner.
If you are the sort of person who sticks dinner or a cake in the oven, wanders off and forgets about it hoping that for once you’ll actually hear the beeping of the oven timer, a baby monitor could very well save at least your dinner. Simply place one unit near the cooker, set the oven timer, and take the other unit with you. When dinner is ready, or your cake is baked, you’ll hear the beeping straight away.
3. Keep an eye on a poorly child.
Your child may no longer be a baby, but that doesn’t mean to say you won’t find your baby monitor handy occasionally. If your child is poorly and off school then having a baby monitor in the room with them can be a real help. If they need you they won’t have to shout or get up, they can simply call into the monitor. If they are sick then you will know immediately and will be able to help them.
4. Keep an eye on the pets.
If your baby monitor works using your home Wi-Fi network and it allows you access using the internet from anywhere, then you can use your monitor to keep an eye on your pets even when you’re away from home for a bit. See what they really get up to when you’re out!
5. Home security.
Home security cameras can be expensive, yet they’re really no different to a baby monitor setup in many ways. If you have a camera monitor, and have one which includes something like an SD card to record footage, and you can remotely access the video across the internet, then you have a first rate security camera system. This makes it ideal for keeping an eye on your home either when you’re away at work, or even away on holiday
6. Wildlife viewing.
If you have a bird table, or there’s a nest in a tree in your garden, you may like to watch the visitors to your garden, and to see them up close, a baby monitor with a built in camera system is ideal. Simply have the camera positioned so that it’s watching the bird table or nest, and then you and the children can watch the birds at any time without risk of disturbing them.
7. Be prepared for visitors.
If you ever have visitors who bring along a young baby then having a baby monitor handy will allow them to leave the baby resting while you and your friends get to chat and catch up on gossip without waking the baby and without missing those early signs that they’re waking up.
8. Record the saints and sinners going past your garden.
You’ve put a lot of effort into keeping your front garden looking nice. With a baby monitor you can find out who is stopping to admire your handiwork, and who’s chucking their empty cans and packets over your fence!
9. Prevent neck injuries.
How many times have you almost given yourself a crook neck trying to squeeze into a cupboard to look down the back to find a pipe, cable or socket? How many times have you wanted x-ray vision to see whether your child’s favourite toy is really behind the wardrobe, or wanted to see into the back of the loft without climbing right up into it? A baby monitor with a camera, and especially one with night vision capability, offers you an extra pair of eyes which can be held up high, stuck behind things and positioned to allow you to see round corners and in the darkness.
One or two of these suggestions may be slightly tongue in cheek, but we can guess that you can probably see at least a couple of uses here which you would find useful, either now or at some point in the future. If you have bought a good quality baby monitor then don’t get rid of it once your baby no longer needs it. Hang on to it, and consider it an extra tool that gives you even more value for your money.
If you have a doorbell, it’s not always easy to hear it, especially if you’re in the garden. If you don’t have a doorbell then it’s terribly easy to miss whoever is at the door, only realising later when you find one of those horrid little ‘Sorry you were out’ cards poked through your letterbox. By placing a baby monitor near the door, and keeping the other unit nearby you, you’ll never miss a parcel delivery again. Of course, if you have a video monitor you can hook up the camera unit to look out of a window so you can see who’s at the door; you will never need to leap up from your garden chair again to answer the door to a salesman!
2. Don’t burn the dinner.
If you are the sort of person who sticks dinner or a cake in the oven, wanders off and forgets about it hoping that for once you’ll actually hear the beeping of the oven timer, a baby monitor could very well save at least your dinner. Simply place one unit near the cooker, set the oven timer, and take the other unit with you. When dinner is ready, or your cake is baked, you’ll hear the beeping straight away.
3. Keep an eye on a poorly child.
Your child may no longer be a baby, but that doesn’t mean to say you won’t find your baby monitor handy occasionally. If your child is poorly and off school then having a baby monitor in the room with them can be a real help. If they need you they won’t have to shout or get up, they can simply call into the monitor. If they are sick then you will know immediately and will be able to help them.
4. Keep an eye on the pets.
If your baby monitor works using your home Wi-Fi network and it allows you access using the internet from anywhere, then you can use your monitor to keep an eye on your pets even when you’re away from home for a bit. See what they really get up to when you’re out!
Could I do any harm?
5. Home security.
Home security cameras can be expensive, yet they’re really no different to a baby monitor setup in many ways. If you have a camera monitor, and have one which includes something like an SD card to record footage, and you can remotely access the video across the internet, then you have a first rate security camera system. This makes it ideal for keeping an eye on your home either when you’re away at work, or even away on holiday
6. Wildlife viewing.
If you have a bird table, or there’s a nest in a tree in your garden, you may like to watch the visitors to your garden, and to see them up close, a baby monitor with a built in camera system is ideal. Simply have the camera positioned so that it’s watching the bird table or nest, and then you and the children can watch the birds at any time without risk of disturbing them.
7. Be prepared for visitors.
If you ever have visitors who bring along a young baby then having a baby monitor handy will allow them to leave the baby resting while you and your friends get to chat and catch up on gossip without waking the baby and without missing those early signs that they’re waking up.
8. Record the saints and sinners going past your garden.
You’ve put a lot of effort into keeping your front garden looking nice. With a baby monitor you can find out who is stopping to admire your handiwork, and who’s chucking their empty cans and packets over your fence!
9. Prevent neck injuries.
How many times have you almost given yourself a crook neck trying to squeeze into a cupboard to look down the back to find a pipe, cable or socket? How many times have you wanted x-ray vision to see whether your child’s favourite toy is really behind the wardrobe, or wanted to see into the back of the loft without climbing right up into it? A baby monitor with a camera, and especially one with night vision capability, offers you an extra pair of eyes which can be held up high, stuck behind things and positioned to allow you to see round corners and in the darkness.
One or two of these suggestions may be slightly tongue in cheek, but we can guess that you can probably see at least a couple of uses here which you would find useful, either now or at some point in the future. If you have bought a good quality baby monitor then don’t get rid of it once your baby no longer needs it. Hang on to it, and consider it an extra tool that gives you even more value for your money.
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