Free AI Prompting Tip #14: Handoff and start fresh
Every prompt sends the whole chat history back to the AI, so long chats get expensive. One nightly job in a single window cost me $247.16 over 3 weeks. After 8 to 10 replies, ask for a handoff prompt and continue in a clean chat.
Did you know each time you enter a prompt an AI chat, the entire chat history is sent back/forth to your AI? That results in exponential token usage and can get costly. I had a nightly job running in the same window for 3 weeks. Total cost: $247.16. For one conversation window. Yikes!
My advice is to stop using the same chat window after 8-10 replies, and ask your AI for a handoff prompt to paste into a clean chat. Paste the handoff summary into a clean window and continue your chat. This uses the AI’s internal memory/cache tokens, which are cheaper than shuttling the old content back/forth to your AI.