String lights on a timer vs manual, finally stopped fighting the dark

For years I dragged a ladder out every evening to plug in my patio string lights, rain or shine, then again at midnight to unplug them. Last month I installed a $15 outlet timer from Home Depot and now they click on at 7, just before dinner outside. It took one wet Tuesday where I slipped off the second step to finally make the switch. Has anyone else found a smarter way to handle patio lighting without running cords everywhere?

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rubys8019d agoTop Commenter

Running them off a smart plug that ties into sunset times would save you from resetting that timer every time the clocks change, but are you really willing to trust an app over a physical switch when the Wi-Fi drops? I get the appeal, but the ladder thing makes me wonder if the real lesson is just to stop storing the lights so far from the outlet in the first place. Did you ever think about just leaving them plugged in year round and covering the sockets instead? That way the timer does the work and you never touch the ladder again unless a bulb burns out. Seems like the cheap fix was solving a problem that had a simpler root cause all along.