Probably the best balance (or at least the easiest and most convenient balance) would be to buy Mullvad Through Tailscale.
Self-hosting a VPN on your own network, doesn’t make too much sense to me in most contexts because (1) it doesn’t change your IP, (2) doesn’t shift your geographic location (or legal jurisdiction), (3) doesn’t bypass your ISP, and (4) doesn’t give you a crowd to potentially blend in with. And even if you host on external VPS, usually you are going to be required to provide a lot more personal info than you would provide a VPN service (oracle for example requires real info, and payment info, even on the free tier).