Smart home content can get wildly expensive, and I think a lot of people look at it and assume they’re priced out. So in this video I tried to take a literal $100 bill (okay… I ended up at like $103, sue me) and build a modest but capable smart home setup around Home Assistant. The whole point was to run everything locally with free, open-source software—no subscriptions, no random cloud services changing their mind later—and still end up with something I can actually build on. I focused on the basics: a Zigbee foundation (because one of my biggest smart home regrets is buying a bunch of Wi‑Fi devices early on), a few cheap Zigbee bulbs and a smart plug, and then DIY sensors using ESPHome. I walk through getting Home Assistant OS installed (UEFI matters), pairing the Zigbee dongle, and setting up ESPHome boards for motion, temperature/humidity, and even a super rudimentary light sensor. Then I put it all to work with simple scripts and automations—like sleep/wake buttons for my sound machine and motion-based lighting—plus a little “notification box” with an RGB LED and buzzer for alerts. It’s not a crazy smart home, but it’s a solid base that doesn’t require cloud dependence.