To be honest, the homelab for me is not completely a cost/benefit analysis. Sure, I’d save money if I calculated my time spent. But for me this is a hobby so I don’t put a monetary value on my time spent. Everything I am doing is learning so I am actually getting value from it. The hardware I obtained second hand from a local swap meet. My utilities have gone up much less than the cost of renting a VPS.
Fair point, if you’ve factored in the full TCO for both hardware and utilities… and/or if you’re using it for other stuff too.
To be honest, the homelab for me is not completely a cost/benefit analysis. Sure, I’d save money if I calculated my time spent. But for me this is a hobby so I don’t put a monetary value on my time spent. Everything I am doing is learning so I am actually getting value from it. The hardware I obtained second hand from a local swap meet. My utilities have gone up much less than the cost of renting a VPS.