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Here is some home automation info I found online while searching for cheaper DIY type stuff.
Sonoff
Sonoff seems to be the best company that makes fairly cheap "smart" devices.
The official store has good prices, but if you are buying 1 item it's almost the same to buy on amazon. If you are buying multiple items they seem to charge the same shipping price so it might be cheaper to buy from the official store if you are buying a lot of products.
Electrical Switch
These are basic devices that you can add to an electrical device and enable it to be turned on/off via wifi. e.g. add to a light switch to turn off/on, add to lamp to turn off/on, open/close garage door.
Basic Sonoff wifi switch is the most basic device. It takes a power & ground cable as input, and another power & ground cable for output.
Sonoff Pow wifi switch is like the basic switch above but has energy monitoring.
Sonoff S31 is like the Sonoff Pow but comes with an AC plug built in. This device is more for residentual stuff and is more plug & play. There is also a "lite" version for $2 off.
Light switches.
Sonoff makes a smart light switch that in 1,2 or 3 gang that are all just the size of 1 junction box.
amazon link sonoff proudct page
The above amazon link seems to be the cheapest once you calculate shipping, unless you buy from china. The ones from china (aliexpress, buydigg, etc) are a few dollers cheaper, but they'll take much longer to get to the US, and you probably won't be able to return them very easily.
Sonoff-Tasmota
Tasmota is alternative firmware for ESP8266 devices.
It looks like this firmware is easy to install and adds a bunch of functionality.