Appreciate hearing your story! And best of luck with your freelance web dev.
Also you mention surviving on vegan junk food- have you ever tried cooking some recipes? It can take more time but cheaper and healthier. We usually make enough to have leftovers for a few days so then we can just reheat on day 2-3.
It’s funny because I’m having a similar experience with arch Linux meme. after seeing it so much i started reading about why it’s so great and i have considered using it when i switch my main pc over to Linux. right now just my servers run on Linux so I’m not unfamiliar with it, but haven’t switched my daily driver yet.