[nick__m]

You cannot have use-after-free if you never call free, so there are no points at which memory should not be touched.

That's the beauty of the never free memory management strategy.

[dajtxx]

It can still be a bug if you use something after you would have freed it because your code isn't meant to be using that object any more. It points to errors in the logic.

[guerrilla]

Agreed. I think being methodical is better here for sure.