The advice is good, ie don't have too many things on one circuit, use LED of CFL lights to minimise consumption, etc. Bear in mind that if anything generates heat, it is going to be consuming a lot of power.BUT - do not try any changes to your home wiring unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you don't, it is easy to get a severe shock or kill yourself. If you have a problem, eg a circuit breaker which is always tripping, or getting shocks off something, etc, get a qualified electrician to look at it. It might cost you a bit, but it might not cost your relatives the cost of a funeral.The non conventional sizing he refers to could be a number of things - using wire that is too small or a circuit breaker that is too big for the type of power it is carrying. Again, unless you know what you're doing, have these things checked by a qualified electrician.
Your "Homework" should only be changing light bulbs, maybe plugging things in on different power points to get load off one circuit onto another, etc.