Honestly, if your looking to spend a couple hundred bucks you're better off ensuring your doors and windows are secure. Making your home hard to break into is better than having alarms and what not which go off after they have already gotten in.
Look into kick proof doors or other things you can add to existing doors. I use and reccomend
Door Devil, no affiliation.
Secure your windows by making sure they can't be pryed open. This
Article goes over some of the basics.
Then there's the standard exterior measures:
Bright Motion Sensor lights
Discouraging landscaping, ie prickly bushes near windows, landscape rock (which is loudish when walking on)
Then just situational stuff:
Don't leave electronics boxes easily visible.
Don't have your big flat screen visible from the street.
Keep a tidy exterior and lawn.
Above and beyond:
Get a dog. Probably the best alarm system and it only requires food and belly rubs. They discourage people from breaking in, but don't expect them to defend you unless you want to train it or buy one for such purposes
Get a gun and extensively train yourself and your wife in it's operation. Also if your working nights develop some sort of system if you ever unexpectedly come home early, you know, so she knows its you coming in at 3am.
Edit to add:
If you still want to have the zwave stuff go for it. I get it, I'm a gadget guy too and I find home secruity equipment pretty fun to mess around with, just don't forget the basics :)