Data Hoarder

(Hopefully this is an acceptable question. It's my first time posting to this subreddit.)

Hoarding data is something that comes naturally to me, but unlike the average poster here my technical knowledge is limited. That can all be learned, but something I was curious about is roughly how much income one needs to maintain a sizable data hoard. I see all those crazy set ups with terrabytes and terrabytes of data, back-ups upon back-ups, people recommend services or software.

I myself have a modest living situation, several roommates, a single room of my own, the usual for someone starting out in the world. I'm not here to complain, I just need to know what my goals are and what I'm getting myself into by answering this call from my brain.

So is it possible to meaningfully hoard data on a budget by scraping together whatever storage I can, or is it better to focus on one's career until they're in a good enough place to afford a "proper setup" ?