The homelab and Linux communities are a good place to start. There’s a lot of very well made free and open source software (FOSS) that can, with some effort (mostly learning), replace most of the cloud services you use.
For example: I use Jellyfin (movies, TV Shows) and Audiobookshelf (books/Audiobooks) to replace all of the streaming services. HomeAssistant for home automation, power management, etc. Zoneminder(experimenting with Frigate) for security.
It’s all free, for homeassistant and zoneminder you’ll have to check for compatible hardware and everything requires you to set up the server/networking side of things. But if you’re willing to put in the time to learn, it’s a fun hobby that pays for itself (assuming you’re paying for streaming, home automation, cloud storage, etc).
Any tips on how I can ascend to this level of existence?
The homelab and Linux communities are a good place to start. There’s a lot of very well made free and open source software (FOSS) that can, with some effort (mostly learning), replace most of the cloud services you use.
For example: I use Jellyfin (movies, TV Shows) and Audiobookshelf (books/Audiobooks) to replace all of the streaming services. HomeAssistant for home automation, power management, etc. Zoneminder(experimenting with Frigate) for security.
It’s all free, for homeassistant and zoneminder you’ll have to check for compatible hardware and everything requires you to set up the server/networking side of things. But if you’re willing to put in the time to learn, it’s a fun hobby that pays for itself (assuming you’re paying for streaming, home automation, cloud storage, etc).