I built my entire home network out of e-waste, and it saved me hundreds

I’ve been homelabbing for years, and except for my “main server” and a few Raspberry Pis, most of the equipment I use is second-hand, or devices that I literally pulled out of dumpsters or recycle bins. Despite the state I found them in, much of that “e-waste” has been put to productive use in my homelab. It just took a bit of tinkering and careful software selection to make it worthwhile.