Why are you paying per year? You can get lifetime adguard licenses for cheap from stack social.

Discord is the best place for help for actual budget, it is very active

ND’s are one of the best looking cars on the road. Congrats, you’re going to love it.

Yup, HomeKit can 100% work without internet. It’s a requirement of being HomeKit certified. I block internet access to all my HomeKit devices and they work just fine.