Staying at home has had its ups and downs. Working from home and homeschooling the kids hasn't been easy and the cabin fever is real! But it's nice spending quality time with my family cooking and playing the board games that we used to play as a kid.

I've also started to pick up on things I wouldn't have noticed before. Drinking my morning coffee looking out the living room window, I noticed one of my neighbors painted their garden fence, another power washed their drive (it looked great), and the family across the street even put down a whole new lawn - Let's hope we are allowed out again by the time the grass is up! And I also noticed a little sign in their garden, "protected by Vivint Smart Home".

My newfound curiosity and boredom made me want to know more. So I looked up Vivint Smart Home and read that it's a smart home security system. It offers security features, such as doorbell cameras, indoor smart cameras, outdoor smart cameras, smart door locks, car protection, garage door control, 24/7 monitoring, and video recording. Along with so many other smart tech features, like smart smoke and CO detectors and flood sensors. You can even control the lights and the thermostat with your phone, or set a timer for them to turn on/off.

Why would anyone on my block need all that? It's one of the safest neighborhoods around! And why would I need to have everything in my home connected to my phone?

That night at dinner, I told my husband about the new Vivint Smart Home system our neighbors got. To my surprise, he told me he had heard about it and was meaning to look into it. Why? It's not like we need any of that, especially now that we are at home all the time. But he saw it as the perfect time to get it; we can get used to the whole system and how to use it properly. I still wasn't sold.

He was so intrigued that he called up my neighbors and asked how they liked their new Vivint Smart Home system. Great, now they know I was snooping! Anyway, they love it and couldn't recommend it enough. Now he really wanted to get it but I still wasn't sure. Then he told me our neighbors got it after one of their wallets was stolen out of their car.

Well, we don't leave wallets in our car so it wouldn't be worth the money, I thought. But then he told me monthly plans start at only $29.99 and all plans come with the Vivint Smart hub, Vivint App, Home Security and 24/7 monitoring.

He wouldn't stop going on about how the kids are getting older and will be in the house alone more once everything goes back to normal so we should get it. When he showed me the doorbell camera comes with two-way communication as well as their indoor camera, I started to get intrigued. We could use it to check what the kids are up to and talk to them through it, and the doorbell is very handy for our packages. The smart locks for the doors are definitely something we'd use too.

We rang and got a quote that was way more affordable than I thought, it's less than our monthly cellphone bill!. We had a pre-visit phone call, where we could discuss any questions or concerns we had about our upcoming visit and to go through our plan. The Vivint professionals came with additional supplies such as gloves, eyeglasses, and sanitizer and cleaned all areas of the home they interacted with during the installation. They knew exactly what to do so we stayed out of the way.

It was a worry of mine having someone come to the house but Vivint assured us that they are taking all the precautions to protect their employees and customers and they did exactly that. The installation was quick and easy.

Two weeks using our Vivint Smart Home system and I must say, my husband was right!! I love being able to control everything from my phone, and the camera, doorbell and smart locks make me feel so safe while in my house and when we get to leave again I don't have to worry about it. Plus, we feel more comfortable leaving the two older teens in the house now.

Quarantine was the perfect time to get used to our Vivint Smart Home system, and now our home feels safer while we are here and it's ready for when we resume our lives after self-isolation.

Update: Vivint is extending a special offer to our readers. Follow this link to receive free installation and a $50 visa gift card with a purchase of a system.