Originally Posted by MoonWitch
... with the sheer amount of passwords I have to remember - work (about 70 in total), home (even more, mine, moms and my sisters), there's no way I can cope without a password manager.
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My previous system was to assign each site/service/device/whatever a level of importance. All things at the same level of importance used the same password. Only the most important things (eg. bank) got unique passwords. No dictionary words (at least not from any languages I speak or have any familiarity with) at any level.
Random site that required me to register to download something? Level 0, gets the 6-letter all-lowercase password. Website I actually use but that has no personal info or real importance? Level 1, same as level 0 but with some letters substituted with numbers, and a suffix to make it longer. Slightly more important website? Level 2, same as level 1, but with some capital letters and punctuation marks. Personal info? Level 3, longer password with uppercase and lowercase letters, and numbers. Financial info? Level 4, really long random password that I memorized a decade ago, with a minor variation for each use.
There were a few more variations (eg. WoW-related websites used a different base password, etc.) but basically it kept my total number of passwords to remember to a minimum, while maintaining a reasonable level of security. In the 15 or so years I used this system, I never had any account compromised.
Frankly the only reason I'm bothering with the added security of a password manager and long random passwords everywhere is that I only have to use the password manager the first time I log into something on each device. After that, the password is saved in my browser, and the length and complexity of the password is irrelevant to me.