I think you might be drastically misunderstanding what a reverse proxy does.

Reverse proxy: Gives EVERY computer a direct connection to your network if you make it public, which it certainly sounds like you mean.

VPN: gives only you access to your internals.

In terms of connecting from work and not allowing some untrusted computer, there’s a hundred different options, even running portable QEMU from a USB and using that trusted virtual machine to connect.

I use Bazzite and have a Mac, and I despise every second I have to use MacOS. It is unintuitive and painful in comparison. IMO

Beginners can recycle an old mini/micro PC. You can buy refurbished ones from computer recyclers for like $15.

At both ends of the spectrum you can save money. The people who don’t (like me) are not doing it for the goal of saving money.