I ran a very small mining operation at home back in the day and it definitely was all about trying to optimize everything.
Today, I don't think mining is economically viable without running a data center, but I still mine in the winter and turn my computer into a space heater for my home office. It definitely doesn't cover the power cost but it does offset a small portion of it.
Not affiliated in any way but Nicehash is what I use now since it (mostly) runs out of the box with minimal configuration.
As a side note, don't mine on laptops - you won't get enough heat to keep a room warm and you might end up with something failing from overheating.
Hellstormy