You can clear an iCloud account's storage in several ways to free up space and avoid having to pay for extra storage.
You can easily delete apps from iCloud to free up storage space — particularly, large data-heavy apps that you might not need ...
I was trying to help a customer with a Mac, she's using Sonoma 14.5 if that matters. Her iCloud settings apparently got her in a position where her Desktop and Documents folders are being redirected ...