Alexa- what do you use it for?

[OldMotherHubbardsBigBottom]

I was bought one last year as a present and other than asking it to make rude noises I haven't really used it.

What do you use yours for?

We have a few.
Bloody excellent for using as an intercom to get DC1 to hear me because he's got the whole top floor of the house to himself and otherwise I end up hoarse from shouting.
I just ask one of the downstairs alexa's to talk to his.
I play music on it, games, alarms etc
We love old Alexa in this house.
Also have various smart plugs for lamps, blinds that have a smart controller and a thermostat and it works with the Mercedes Me app too.

We really do NOT need Alexa. At all.

Convince me otherwise lol. i.e what am I missing really.

We use Alexa a lot. I've been surprised by just how much we use it and I miss it on holiday. But my favourite routine is "Alexa, it's dinner time" and all 4 kids get a notification on their phone/device/own Alexa. No more standing at the bottom of the stairs screeching. We've also got it set up to summon individual children by name.

Then other things like gradually turning on my bedside lamp in the morning, which stops me from snoozing my alarm so much, boiling the kettle when I first get up, lights coming on and off when we're away, lists, timers, reminders. All the Christmas lights, so that I can turn them on and off with one command. Outside ones come on automatically at dusk. So many ways in which it has made our lives just a tiny bit easier!

I'm sitting on the sofa right now listening to a radio programme. We have already asked for the news headlines and weather forecast and my son has checked out some questions for his home work. I really love it.

I'm loving ours for music and for controlling the Christmas lights. I have two smart plugs and one was on the kettle but is now on the tree lights so I can no longer have the kettle an ready boiling when I get up.
I have lots of fun scaring dd1 by switching music on when she's in the house alone.
I've now set up multi room speaker so the same music is on the middle and bottom floors.
I announce dinner, set timers for cooking, weather forecast, reminders, countdown to Christmas, facts. Ds likes to tell Alexa he loves her as she then sings a song that he dances to.
I've asked questions about Father Christmas and how his reindeer fly.
She has no knowledge of the Irish language though which is disappointing although it means she'll swear in Irish as she doesn't know. She won't swear normally.
We've had lots of fun since we got her.

Weather, turn on/off our lights, plug sockets or heating, news bulletins, play music (connected to Bluetooth speaker) traffic reports in a morning, reminders.

We have Nest heating, Phillips Hue lighting, smart wifi sockets

The echo dots are on sale for £24.99 today on amazon.
I bought 2 ( we have the echo show and 3 dots currently)
My DS1 has just spent an hour doing football quizzes and last night we were playing family games.

Spotify playlists, checking the weather forecast, checking tube status, getting quick news and sports results, 'dropping in' when dinner is ready instead of having to holler up the stairs!

Love my Alexas, we have three. Use them for music and the radio, controlling lights, heating, blinds, the kettle, tv. Ask it random facts, DH checks the football/cricket scores. Use the timers all the time.

Got a few routines set up. Current favourites are Santa’s coming, which switches on the Christmas lights and gives us a blast of slades merry christmas everyone, and humbug, which switches it all off and Alexa calls us miserable sods

We got ours at the start of December and a couple of smart plugs. We currently play music, set timers, and the smart plugs control Christmas tree lights and a lamp. I like saying Alexa good morning and she tells you a fact about the day.
My ds asks for jokes and how many days until Christmas.

I refused to have one then dh bloody bought one. It sits there gatheting data. So far it has been used to play music. Nothing a radio couldnt do. Waste of bloody money