Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter.

Turning your home into a smarter space can be surprisingly affordable. These under $50 gadgets bring automation, monitoring, and voice control.

If you have an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, you probably already know you can ask it to make a grocery list, give a weather forecast, or ponder the meaning of life. What you might not realize is that you ...