I think I have about 50 bucks of monthly subscriptions all in by this point, and most of that is to patreons or various similar systems for smaller independent creators I wish to support directly. The rest is for a VPN for cough “downloading Linux ISO”, also libro fm for audio books to listen to on the night shift.

I actually spend a fair bit monthly on one time donations, purchases of media or related merch, especially stuff I already have access to but wish to support the creators of. I’d probably support more creators this way if it was easier to do so but there are so many times where there just is no way to do so.

With media on big streaming services, it’s been made pretty clear that I have little to no input on if the money I’m spending will actually end up supporting the creatives who make the media I enjoy. In fact it seems most of the money I spend will end up getting spent on stuff I do not care about. “Supporting creatives” through these means feels more like handing the reins of culture and art over to large companies and shareholders.