I try to be economical (cheap) with my utilities. When I am at home, I like to keep the A.C. set to 75 degrees, but when I leave for work in the morning I turn the AC unit off, and don’t turn it on again until i get home. By the time i get home, it’s 82 degrees and I turn the AC back on to 75degrees. The house is empty from 7:30 to 5:30 (10hrs). Is it cheaper to have the AC running all day at 75/76 degrees or to turn the AC on and off each day as described above?
The AC unit is pretty new (8months old), and the condo is only 1000 sq ft and not too large, so these two facts combined mean that it only takes 15-25 minutes to cool the place down even after having it turned off for the 10hrs.
The best idea, for the state of your possessions, would be to raise the temperature to about 80 while you’re out.