Collected from actually using Muse on the free tier. The centerpiece: how to save your usage allowance.
What eats the allowance is trial-and-error back-and-forth. Passing the picture of the finished thing, plus your criteria, up front cuts the "build it — no, not that — fix it" rounds. When the direction itself is vague, the cheaper route is the opposite: have Muse make one small prototype, look at it, and only then commit to the real thing.
Asking in conversation for every daily record or check is poor value. Put it on a schedule or a condition watch, and the allowance cost stays minimal while results arrive quietly.
Self-contained writing and research can go to other free AIs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini). If Muse keeps only the design and the inspection, its allowance gets spent on judgment, where it's worth most.
If progress and state live somewhere you can glance at — a board, a list — the "so where were we?" exchanges disappear. Less re-explaining is, directly, more allowance saved.
The weekly allowance resets at a known time. Don't stack your biggest trials in one corner of the week; watch the remaining balance and spread them out, so you never hit empty at the moment that matters.