Worst budget options that nobody talks about [v5]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not.

I tried three different approaches and none of them felt quite right. Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not. Posting this here because the relevant subreddit has gotten too noisy lately.

There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019. Posting this here because the relevant subreddit has gotten too noisy lately.