I never paying (Me and proprietary software pt. 2)
At beginning, i use a PC that my dad build in circa March 2023. And when i got a new class (6), specifically August 25. Here when i started developing, with still a same workflow and place as current. My first reason to start is from a video by Dea Afrizal, and it's feels really easy with ChatGPT (and at that time i don't even know what is HTML, CSS, JS are). And later, i (somehow) created a GitHub account too. But also at that time, i started understand both ChatGPT and web coding. And i never paying.
I use ChatGPT free plan, Spotify got SpotX'd, Office, Windows MASS'd, hosting in GitHub and Vercel. Mailing with Gmail and use ImprovMX custom domain to make it's less cheap-ish. After learning about PRs, i can get a free subdomain in is-a.dev. And then for blogging i use Bearblog. The free plan is already Good Enough (not that one brand), waiting for application is fine to me (i am a patient person at school btw).
I really like to avoid a paid products and searching the free one, even if it's needed 2 day research (FOSS better), and if i not get the one, i just avoid it. But if it's really needed... 🏴☠️