So I decided to buy myself an early Christmas present. (The price right now is fantastic (only $29.99) I read a few things online and it sounded cool, so I decided to give it a whirl. However,I have learned so many things it can do – it’s MY FAVORITE now! I’m so glad I bought it! Here are 15 things you may not know that this cool device can do:

1. Set a timer while baking! “Alexa,  set a timer for 20 minutes” It’s the perfect hands-free way to set a timer. Plus you can set multiple timers at one time.

2. “Alexa, sing Happy Birthday” and she will sing! Perfect for someone’s birthday day, or just to be funny

3. “Alexa, play my Spotify” I was really hoping that I could easily choose songs like Amazon Music Unlimited and just say “Play Christmas music” but turns out it doesn’t work that seamless. I have Spotify premium and Love my account so I plan on continue using my Spotify. Basically you have to choose what you want to play on your phone before you tell her to play your music. So you can’t just say “play Christmas music” you would have to actually look it up on your phone first. I actually don’t mind it, but was a little bit of a learning curve at first. While playing music you can ask her to turn the volume up or down “Alexa, turn down the volume” and you can always just say “Alexa stop” when you are done with the music.

4. “Alexa, open a box of cats”  This is just a funny thing you can do. Test it out and see what it does

5. “Alexa, what is the temperature outside right now?” This is a super quick way to find out the temp outside. It usually always gives a bit of weather details as well.

6. “Alexa, what is 2,000 divided by 77?” If you need help with some math, or conversions while cooking. Just ask, and she will help you out!

7. “Alexa, Remind me that I have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 9AM” You can basically have her remind you of anything. The thing that’s awesome is it will send you a reminder through the Echo, and it also sends you a notification on your phone. I love this! No more writing it down to forget later

8. “Alexa, remind me to buy laundry soap” I love this feature! I tend to forget the items I need to buy. So you can have Alexa add them to your list. When you are at the store, you can simply pull up the app and look through your list to remind you what you needed to buy. What a life saver!

9. “Alexa, Good Morning” This is another feature I love. Everyday it will give you a random fact about the day. This is a fun way to add a tid-bit of information to my morning. You can also say “Alexa, Good Afternoon and Alexa, Good Evening for more helpful facts or tid-bits of information.

10. “Alexa, let’s do the 7 minute workout” This is a fun way to encourage kids and adults to get up and move. I work in an office, and sit all day. So sometimes during my lunch, I will ask Alexa to workout just to get my body moving. It’s a fun and different way to motivate you to move. I also like if you don’t understand the workout, she will explain in detail how to do it.

11. “Alexa, Simon says…. ” She will repeat whatever you say immediately following “Simon says” You can play tricks on your kids, if you use Echo’s remote control from another room. They will suddenly hear “Kids, take the trash out” or whatever you choose.

12. “Alexa, set an alarm for 7 a.m.” this is easy feature to set alarms to wake up or remind you it’s time to leave the house. You can also set a repeating alarm “Alexa, set a repeating alarm for weekdays at 7 a.m.”

13.  “Alexa, what day of the week is Christmas on this year?” You can basically ask it about any dates you may have a quick question on.

14. “Alexa, what’s in the news?” This is a quick way to check headlines and see what is happening in the world without turning your tv on. It’s pretty informative.

15. “Alexa, tell me a joke” She’s pretty witty and funny. Kids love asking Alexa to tell a joke from time to time. And, some of her jokes are actually funny!

I have heard that the prices on the Echo will be going up, so if this is something you’ve been thinking of buying – now is the time to do it! Seriously! We are loving it in our home!