family | At Home with Tech

May 11, 2025

4 Smart Strategies for Buying Tech for Your Teen

A teenager wearing wireless headphones stares out of a window onto a city street. — **How to go about buying expensive technology for your teenager can be confusing and often a challenge. Here’s what I do.**

We all know how expensive personal tech can be. The price points don’t change for your kids and teens. Tech is tech.

As a parent of a teenager in high school, it’s already been a couple years since I faced the reality that toys are for kids, and he’s not really a kid anymore. When I shop for our son, he wants (and often needs) the same tech as I do.

That said, the gear we all use is often available at a variety of price points. So, when shopping for our teen, yes, I’m inclined to first look at the lower end, but I’m also mindful to get him something ‘good.’

I don’t want to fall for ‘a deal’ on a model that’s subpar. A bargain is not always good value in the name of trying to save a buck. Not for me. Not for my boy.

So, I do find it a complex balancing act as a parent, and I must admit I carry some baggage to this shopping equation.

My Father Got Me Used Tech
I recall the moments my own father gifted me the tech I craved when I was a kid… a stereo system for my room and later a cool Sony Walkman. What I also still remember was the stereo was in an already-opened box, and my Walkman had an annoying dent in its metal frame (but it worked fine).

Not to diss my dad, who passed away in 2022, but the memories of these slightly used gifts still kick around the back of my brain.

Sure, he was probably going through the same questions as I am now as a father. And he made some choices. And just so you know, it wasn’t an affordability question. There are a few other details, but they don’t change the facts. Nor do they blunt these feelings decades later.

Finding a deal for yourself is one thing. Shopping for a discount for someone else’s gift can be entirely different. As we go through this topic, I just wanted to reveal this story as I share my own gifting strategies as a dad.

Of course, I look for reasonable and smart ways to buy tech more affordably for my son. But I also don’t want to repeat the gifting mistakes my father did.

So, all this said, here are four ways I’ve been trying to navigate this tech terrain as a father…

#1
Start at the Entry Level
As any number of tech product categories mature, less expensive versions eventually show up. They’re usually not as good. But sometimes… they’re almost as good and often in the ways that matter most. And that’s where I look for gifting opportunities.

I like this approach especially with the brands we already know and love. Apple’s iPhone SE is a great example, and yep, my son has one. I actually bought it for myself as a ‘transition phone’ after I drowned my old iPhone. (That’s a whole other story.) Later, the SE went to him.

Not every entry level choice is the right move. You’ve got to do some homework.

#2
Shop for Yesterday’s Best
Sometimes, last year’s model at a discount is still a great choice. How much better is the newest version really going to be?

And most importantly, last year’s great model can be a much better choice than a cheaper model that’s brand new. Shopping for price is only one piece of the equation.

I recently applied this shopping strategy for a pair of noise-cancelling wireless headphones for our son.

I went with the older Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Over-Ear Headphones. They received amazing reviews. But there’s a newer model: the Px7 Se. Yes, that’s the latest-and-greatest (unless you must have the even more expensive Px8).

But the discontinued Px7 S2 was still for sale and at a nicely discounted price. So, I bought it.

I think the Px7 S2 was a really solid choice. And most importantly, my son loves his new headphones.

Always remember to take a look at yesterday’s best.

#3
Don’t Skimp on the Guts of a Computer
We’re an Apple family. So, of course my son has a MacBook. I got him the MacBook Air. No… not the more expensive MacBook Pro. But I made that choice also because the MacBook Air is so good. And I bought the current model at the time.

Sure, I could have saved a couple hundred dollars on last year’s model. But in this circumstance, I didn’t follow my ‘yesterday’s-best’ strategy. I applied a different shopping strategy for computers.

I always like to buy the current model with the newest chip. That choice can help the laptop last at least an extra year or more at the back end of its life cycle.

Same rule for me and our son.

#4
Brand Often Matters
Not every model that a well-known brand sells is going to be good. Again, you’ve got to do your homework. But if you’ve got to put your trust somewhere, I think it’s smart to stick with the brands you already know.

This may seem like an obvious point when it comes to big-ticket items, but for any number of accessories, you’re going to come across plenty of manufacturers you don’t recognize.

Be careful. I’d say it’s not worth taking the risk to save a few bucks. Sure, there are exceptions, but there’s already a fair amount of playing the odds when you shop. Why not stack the odds in your favor?

Shop Smart
Buying tech for your teen should follow the same smart shopping strategies for any purchase:

Identify a quality product.
Only get the features you need.
Then find a good price.

Of course, there’s always the hand-me-down strategy (like My iPhone SE). Nothing really wrong with that (although teen Barrett would probably have taken issue with it).

But if you’re making a purchase, yesterday’s best is usually the perfect place to start your search.

April 13, 2025

How to Prevent Hose Water Toxins from Contaminating your Garden

You may be watering your lawn and organic vegetable garden with hoses and watering products that leach harmful chemicals and even lead. Here’s my ongoing story to find a ‘drinking-water-safe’ solution to that problem.

I set up a little vegetable garden some years back by the side of our house with the goal of growing a few vegetables for our family. It was more of a taste test. A few cherry tomatoes, some herbs and perhaps a couple peppers if we were lucky.

When I put together a watering solution from our outside water spigot, I asked myself (and then wrote about) this critical gardening question:

Is Your Garden Water Hose Toxic?

I determined the clear answer was yes. Most garden hoses with brass fittings and sprayers leach lead and other hazardous chemicals into the water. It’s a mostly unregulated industry, and as a result I think many of us are effectively spraying some amount of toxins onto our lawns every day.
(Yes, I know that sounds dramatic.)

Drinking-Water-Safe Hoses from Water Right
I suppose it’s not as big of a problem if you’re simply watering your lawn, but if you’re eating from your garden, that’s another story. (And you should never drink from a common water hose.)

So, my solution was to shop for ‘drinking-water-safe’ water hoses and sprayers. Yes, some companies do go the extra distance and manufacture safer gardening products. And yes, of course, they’re more expensive.

I did my research and landed on a company named Water Right. Their non-toxic-core hoses are made from polyurethane, and the nickel and chrome fittings don’t leach lead.

I bought a few of their hoses and hooked them up. They’ve held up nicely over the years, and I’ve been quite satisfied.

Garden Hose Care
That said, some will remind me that if you leave your garden hoses outside all summer to bake in the sun (guilty), bacteria will grow in the warm, standing water in the hoses. So, please don’t come by and do a water analysis for me. Yes, I know I may be growing a bit of bacteria, but at least my hose water shouldn’t contain lead, phthalates, BPA and other horrible chemicals.

My Expanded Lawn Watering Needs
Fast forward to the present. We’ve just completed a few landscaping enhancements to our backyard. Now, our new shrubbery requires hydration. Please don’t tell anyone, but I’ve never regularly watered our backyard. (I don’t have a hose system back there.) Somehow, the grass has survived across the years. (It’s not perfect.) The fact that our backyard is shaded through much of the afternoon has certainly helped.

So, it was time to buy another garden hose and sprayer to reach back there.

I could have immediately gone to Water Right. But I was also looking for an upgraded and non-toxic solution for my hose sprayer and splitter for our outdoor water spigot.

Unfortunately, Water Right doesn’t offer those products. So, I did a little more research in the name of one-stop shopping.

Hello ELEY Products
I happily found Eley Corporation from Nebraska that proudly manufactures outdoor watering tools which are non-toxic and made with drinking-water-safe material. Their garden hoses are polyurethane, and their brass watering tools are lead free.

ELEY stocked everything I needed.

Drinking-water-safe hose
Lead-free brass garden hose sprayer
Lead-free brass garden hose 2-way splitter

You have to buy directly from their website: eleyhosereels.com.
(There’s no Amazon option.)

So, I took the plunge. Click.

The ELEY box arrived a few days later.

Big and Beefy
ELEY describes their products as ‘commercial-duty.’ They’re not kidding.
Everything is big, beefy and heavy (except the garden hose…that’s relatively light).

When I first picked up the brass garden hose nozzle (water sprayer), it felt like a weapon in my hand.

The brass garden hose splitter looked more like a replacement part for a tank. Here’s how it compares next to a traditional water spigot splitter you can pick up anywhere.
You can see I also bought and attached an ELEY shut off valve for the bottom that effectively makes it a 3-way splitter.

ELEY products come with a 10-year warrantee- No-leak/No-break/No-rust.
I can immediately see why.

You Get What You Pay For
So yes, it costs more.

You can buy a water spigot splitter at Home Depot: $15
ELEY’s tank-grade version: $46
Melnor sprayer at Home Depot for your water hose: $7
ELEY’s garden hose spray nozzle: $68
(plus an extra spray attachment if you choose)
50’ vinyl garden hose at Home Depot: $40-$50
ELEY’s 50’ drinking-water-safe polyurethane garden hose: $127
(For comparison, Water Right’s 50’ 5/8” polyurethan version is $110
…so similar.)

Yeah, it’s a dramatic difference. Who would choose to pay double to triple the cost (or more) to water their lawn and garden?

Well, I did.

In the name of quality. I should not have to buy it all again in a couple years.
And in the name of safety. I’m not spraying out micro bits of lead and other contaminants.

Common Sense
My expanded outdoor watering system is in place and ready for spring and summer. Plus, I’ve taken the extra steps to make it a safer one.

All this said, I’m no expert on this topic. I’m simply trying to provide as healthy an environment as I can for my family. Truthfully, I don’t know exactly how much danger the other mainstream gardening products pose, especially if you’re not drinking the water and only watering your lawn.

But I don’t think this simple everyman can be too far off base. These are common sense conclusions. So, I say why not be cautious and spend the few extra bucks in the name of your family’s health?

Plus, you get what you pay for. There’s a durability proposition here. This outdoor water management system won’t start leaking tomorrow. It’s supposed to last at least a decade.

Barrett’s Message to Other Manufacturers
Thank you, ELEY for manufacturing safer watering products for gardens and lawns. Clearly, there are enough people out there like me to keep you in business. (That’s a heartening conclusion to draw.)

And thank you, Water Right. You didn’t get my spend today, but that’s okay (there’s always tomorrow). I’m still happily using your garden hoses after many years. I applaud your same commitment to making garden hoses that are drinking-water-safe.

And a simple message to other manufacturers out there… More of this please!

March 23, 2025

I’m Going Mad Trying to Find a Mystery Sound in my Kitchen

I used to recognize every sound throughout our house. Then, a faint digital tone began pinging. I can’t locate this ghost in our kitchen, and it’s challenged my very existence.

I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan. The background roar of New York City flowed through me day and night. Our apartment building also echoed the nosy lives of dozens of people living around us. Strange creaks, bangs, bumps and even occasional screams were just a normal part of existence. I mostly tuned it out, but every so often, a new alien-like sound would pique my interest.

Then I moved out of the city, and throughout most of my adulthood, I’ve lived in houses in suburban neighborhoods. Though not exactly the wilderness, there was always enough quiet ambience that allowed me to mentally catalogue the origins of every sound my home made.

The click of the furnace kicking into gear
The low rumble of our garage door opening
The high-pitch whoosh of water flowing to hydrate our lawn
The happy tune from our LG washer machine when it’s done with its cycle
The thump of the cat jumping off our LG dryer
The three pings from my new Behmor Brazen Plus 3.0 coffee maker after brewing

I knew our house’s every mechanical, digital and biologic whisper and where it came from.

Until one day recently… I didn’t.

Smoke Detector Madness
The only problem I’ve previously had with noises in my house was tracking down the annoying cry of my smoke detector looking for fresh batteries. Sure, I’ve got a more advanced Google Nest Protect monitoring the second floor by our bedrooms, but our first floor and basement still host old-school First Alert models.

And honestly, I could never tell which sibling puck was in distress. So, I had to painfully wait in front of one of them for 90 seconds until the next piercing chirp. And of course, that always happened after I’d been rudely awakened by this cruel (but necessary) warning at 2am.

Fortunately, even these basic smoke detectors have evolved over time, and the most recent First Alert model I’ve installed has a 10-year lithium battery sealed into the unit. So hopefully, my excruciating dead-of-night searches won’t be so frequent.

You Can’t Find Me
But recently, a ghost ping has cropped up in my house, and it is completely unknown. The sound is faint and just one ping. I hear the digital note only every few days, and there is no pattern to it.

It’s entirely infuriating, and I feel this brief tone is taunting me.

Sure, I could ignore It. (This innocuous accent isn’t loud enough to wake me up at night.)

But its existence challenges my control… my authority… my human dominance over our little kingdom.

The Digital Ghost in our Kitchen
The best I can tell, this evil ping comes from somewhere in our kitchen. The faint digital heartbeat doesn’t give me enough information, because it’s too infrequent. (I can’t stand around for a day waiting for the next one.)

Logic tells me the culprit is one of our newer devices… my Brazen coffee maker or perhaps our Instant Pot.

They’re both usually plugged in. Perhaps this is just a little friendly reminder that one is unnecessarily sucking energy in standby mode.

So, what’s the big deal?

Open the Pod-Bay Doors, HAL
Well, I can’t stop thinking about this silly audio ping that currently remains outside my control. I consider it a form of defiance.

As I’ve worked hard over the years to make our home ‘smarter,’ that also means I’ve bolted in more tech to track. Most of it is ‘set-it-and-forget-it.’ But that can’t last forever. So, isn’t this a problem just waiting to happen down the line?

Eventually, your home may take on a life of its own. It can start with a little mystery ping. But it probably won’t end there.

Life isn’t set-and-forget. Your tech shouldn’t be either. And now we’ve got AI to improve everything. See where I’m going?

Don’t Lose the Manual
I’m no Luddite. But it’s clear to me that as we continue to embrace technology in every part of our existence, we must pay attention and not lose too much control. AI is allowed to occasionally hallucinate, but we can’t afford to do that even once. (Humanity doesn’t come with that disclaimer.)

If you think my concern is only worth considering as a screenplay plot device for your next Sci-Fi blockbuster, please considering offering me a screen credit.

Otherwise, I’d recommend you always track down that next digital phantom that crops up in your house. Sure, it may just be an innocent ping.

But when your home talks to you, it’s always best to understand what it’s saying.

Category: family

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