For my home computer, sshd is always on. It is configured to disable password authentification. On the firewall, I authorize only two things: ssh port and wakeonlan. If I need to access another port, it is generally enough to open temporarily a ssh tunnel.
I think that you lose most of the advantages of a unix computer if you can not access it remotely.
I think that you lose most of the advantages of a unix computer if you can not access it remotely.