I have some of my plants potted in clay pots,i normally use plastic pots.I knew that clay pots soak up water & can deprive some plants of water especially in the summer.

I am hoping someone can give a few rules of thumb they go by or a good way to measure if i am giving a plant to much or not enough water especially now that they are inside out of the cold.

It's mainly my jades,christmas cactus,a Easter cactus,Kalanchoe 'tomentosa' (panda plant),kalanchoe 'mother of thousands.I am really not as concerned with the thick leaved succulents since they are so seldom watered.
How often do i water my christmas cactus & Jade plants? I water them and the soil takes about 2 days or less depending on how much the heat was on,drying out the soil even quicker.

christmas cactus,a Easter cactus bulletproof keep them more like a houseplant i use plastic and water 1 or 2 times a week
jades water them until water comes out bottom then wait till they are dry down an inch or so thats your time frame. They can be dry for weeks depending on heat and light the more heat and light the more water.
check http://www.plantoftheweek.org/... panda plant
mother of thousands bulletproof if you are worried take some leaf cuttings and dont water them till you have more plants
the jades will like clay but the cc and ec like plastic more i think

jojoe, yes clay pots dry up faster indoors as a matter of fact, quite surprisingly fast. I think your judgement is correct, water every two days should be ideal but if you can, slip a plastic plate under the pots. That should give you some peace of mind as to water damage. Water standing in the plate is additional water, don't fall for this one as it also is a source of salt.
Clay pots being porous is a source of oxygen to the roots and the roots don not readily fall victim to root rot as in plastic pots . It is the indoors space heating which is chewing up the atmospheric moisture, if this heat source allows place a pan of water on top for additional humidity. Plus you have warm water as a finger bath and provide relief to dry lungs, specially children.
Regards,
Arif.