Energy is a vital resource for human activities and lifestyle, powering important everyday infrastructures and services. Currently, pollutant and non-renewable sources, such as fossil fuels, remain the main source of worldwide consumed energy. The environmental impact of their exploitation has boosted research and investments in alternative, clean and renewable sources, including photovoltaic and wind-based systems. As a whole, buildings are one of the major energy consumption sectors. Hence, improving energy efficiency in buildings will result in economical and environmental gains. In the case of households, home energy management systems are mainly used for monitoring real-time consumption and to schedule appliance operations so that the energy bill could be minimised, or according to another specific criterion. This work aims to survey the most recent literature on home energy management systems, providing an aggregated and unified perspective in the context of residential buildings. In addition, an updated literature list regarding commonly managed household appliances and scheduling objectives are included. Physical and operational constraints, and how they are addressed by home energy management systems along with security issues are also discussed.