The barriers to running your own bitcoin node and lightning node couldnt be lower at this point. Perusing amazon, you could get a thinkcentre mini for $90, a 2 tb ssd for $75. Flash Start OS by nostr:npub126ntw5mnermmj0znhjhgdk8lh2af72sm8qfzq48umdlnhaj9kuns3le9ll onto the machine (OS software is made available by them for free!), and in a few clicks you are running core, electrs, and the lightning implementation of your choice. In my opinion, its a really valuable experience to get your hands dirty with these parts of bitcoin. Get it going today, I'm happy to help any nostrich with the journey 😃