> So you are okay with subscriptions as long as they won’t charge you more than X? No, most definitely not. I'm not talking about the sum (although we have to

> So you are okay with subscriptions as long as they won’t charge you more than X? No, most definitely not. I'm not talking about the sum (although we have to talk about it too), I'm talking about the recurrent obligation. > for the most part these aren’t strictly subscriptions since you pay for what you use which is where the obligation comes in. I prefer setups where I show up with a sum of cash in my hands and I can go home and use up whatever I bought. The utilities have an idea about what I might be using going forward so they set a price point for me to pay up for; each year there's a round of reckoning where I get back money or have to pay extra (Ukraine War -> both gas and electricity get more expensive), and they set a new price point for me. I cannot influence that in any meaningful way; should prices soar, I'm left with swallowing it or terminate the contract altogether. I could live by candle light (in theory) and use computers with a hand crank and battery setup (in theory), but I cannot save energy now and be the master of my expenses, now. When I was a kid we did have an electricity gauge with a coin slot in the vacation apartment but that's fifty years ago. Something like that would be great. I manage to use my phone like that, and my cooking gas; now that we all must have smart meters, I want the same for electricity too. Toss a coin, get some light, stay out of subscription, great.