I don't use any software-services or subscription based services other than a couple tv/movie streaming services... and even them, the trash that they keep churning out, I'm tempted to dump. i do have a sub for encrypted email but I could just as well do that myself but I don't feel like it. (i did that for a living, so at 55 years old... no thanks LOL but even that, I am open to changing my mind on.)

If I need something I get it. I'm not waiting for anything. And, I don't really like "free" as in no-cost anyway because I think people deserve to be paid for their work. Free as in free from corporations and tracking == yes. I'm paying for the nostr.wine filter relay because I find it to be worth what they are charging (personally).

I have been listening to somafm.com since the early 2000s and I have a sub there because they have music that I like to stream and I want to support them because they are not inserting corporate advertising or censoring. I also sometimes buy their t-shirts and things. They have server costs.

"free" as in no cost is a fallacy and it really means #advertising #generalpublic #censorship #datascraping because nothing in this world is free of cost. We either trade our time, goods or money for other people's time, goods or money or we are subjected to the hashtags I listed.

so, there isn't a magic formula really IMO. there's just what I as a human want to support, what I absolutely won't and what I'll bend a bit for.

Roll with the punches, go with the flow, the world is constantly morphing and I am as well.