Managing daily tasks can be a breeze with Home Assistant’s powerful automation features. In this guide, we’ll walk you through setting up automations and scripts to simplify reminders for common tasks like taking out the trash, bringing it back in, and even setting up dinner notifications. This step-by-step guide is based on the latest video from my channel, where you can see the process in action. These examples provide a solid baseline for creating your own daily task reminders tailored to your needs.
Creating Input Booleans for Task Triggers
Input booleans act as switches to trigger reminders based on time or specific conditions. For this setup, I created the following input booleans:
- Trash Bin Reminders: Two input booleans—one for reminding you to take the trash out and another for bringing it back in.
- Dinner Time Reminder: A single input boolean to notify when dinner is ready.
Below is a screenshot that showcases the input booleans list on the Home Assistant dashboard, providing a clear view of how these triggers are organized:
These input booleans serve as the foundation for the automations described next, offering a simple way to control and manage task reminders.
Setting Up Automations to Activate Reminders
Automations allow tasks to be triggered at specific times or under certain conditions. This setup includes four automations:
- Take Out Trash: Activates the input boolean to remind you to take the trash out.
- Bring In Trash: Activates the input boolean for bringing the trash back in.
- Turn On Dinner Reminder: Activates the dinner reminder input boolean.
- Turn Off Dinner Reminder: Deactivates the dinner reminder once it’s completed.
Screenshots are included after each bullet to help visualize and adapt the automations for your needs. Each automation is directly linked to its corresponding input boolean, ensuring reminders are both timely and consistent.
Writing Scripts to Control Actions
Scripts define the actions that occur when automations are triggered. Below are the YAML scripts used in this setup, each with a clear purpose:
- Take out trash bins
sequence:
- action: input_boolean.turn_off
data: {}
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.trash_bin_reminder_take_out
alias: Reset trash bin reminder (Take out)
mode: single
description: ""This script resets the input boolean after the reminder is triggered.
- Bring in trash bins
sequence:
- action: input_boolean.turn_off
data: {}
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.trash_bin_reminder_bring_in
alias: Reset trash bin reminder (Bring in)
mode: single
description: ""Similar to the first script, this resets the input boolean for the bring-in reminder.
- Dinner Time Reminder and Notification
sequence:
- data:
message: Dinner Ready!
action: notify.notify
- action: input_boolean.turn_off
data: {}
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.dinner_time_reminder
alias: Dinner Notification and Reset
mode: single
description: ""This script sends a notification and resets the dinner reminder input boolean.
Use these scripts as a foundation to create actions for various tasks, such as watering plants, taking medication, or managing other daily reminders. The scripts can be customized and expanded to suit your specific needs, allowing for simple or more complex automations as required.
Creating Conditional Cards and Buttons on the Dashboard
Conditional cards in Home Assistant display relevant buttons only when specific conditions are met. For this setup, three conditional cards are used:
- Take Out Trash: Displays a button when the trash-out reminder is active.
- Bring In Trash: Displays a button for the bring-in reminder.
- Dinner Time Reminder: Displays a button when the dinner reminder is active.
These cards are designed to be both functional and visually intuitive, enabling easy interaction with reminders directly from the dashboard.
These cards are fully customizable and can be adjusted to suit your specific needs or preferences. Feel free to modify them to fit your setup.
Conclusion
With this guide and the examples provided, you’re well-equipped to set up daily task reminders in Home Assistant. Whether it’s managing trash schedules, dinner notifications, or other tasks, these automations and scripts can serve as a flexible foundation for creating personalized reminders.
For a detailed walkthrough, be sure to watch my latest video, where I demonstrate these steps in action. Remember, this setup isn’t just limited to the examples shown—you can use these concepts as a baseline to build automations for tasks unique to your household.
Start simplifying your daily routines today with Home Assistant!
