Hello, I've been saying it to myself for a year now, but I'm on summer break rn and I really need to do something with my life. Here's some of the software I plan to host. Goal is to not spend more than $150-200, I do have some gift cards though.

Absolutely Will Run:

Nextcloud & Immich - I want to replace Google and OneDrive

Might do in the near future:

Jellyfin - my mom and I usually just bootleg by using Kodi on our FireTV, so not a major need rn, but might be nice for future purposes.

piHole - better overall ad blocking, so I don't have to use nextDNS on all my devices, and maybe help my mom out.

VPN - I currently pay for Proton, and we use it on the FireTV, the TV app sucks cause it doesn't have killswitch (PC and mobile have Killswitch). I have several devices and profiles that I use, so I was thinking maybe just an overall VPN might be nice

Seeding - I think it would be nice to give back to the community, since I torrent every now and then.

OS Plan: I plan to use Proxmox as I have a little bit of experience using it, and others seem to like it a lot for managing multiple software.

I know I don't need to go full power mode rn, so I wanna stick with something low end that I could maybe upgrade in the future. Should I just buy a used laptop/PC, or get like an Optiplex or ThinkServer? I don't wanna rack up my parent's electric bill. I already got some hard drives a year ago, so but is using an external drive bad?

I know to use the Ethernet ports so my signal isn't shit, but I gotta work out the best spot I can put my server. I do know an okay amount of networking knowledge, and I'm a cyber student anyway so this is like a fun yet educational personal project for me.

When it comes to external access and security of these services, should I stick with Tailscale? Some people have concerns over the proprietary bits and are using headscale instead I guess.

Any guidance is much appreciated!

EDIT: Thank you all so much for the guidance! I've decided to repurpose an old Mac laptop that has a broken screen and use that as the proxmox base (might put better RAM in it if I can) and then start with that. I might get a Pi or thin client in the future for more purposes. I will certainly come back to post when my nextcloud is running!