Keep in mind that if your options have a value of 5 cents or higher (for equities), or one cent or more (for index options), upon expiration, the Options Clearing Corp. allows for a procedure called "exercise by exception," in which your broker can exercise your options on your behalf if you have not instructed him or her otherwise.
Interesting... I had been under the impression that equities had been updated to be exercised at just 1 cent also. Seems duckduckgo snippets are highly out of date!