> I also think it would be a little weird if I started every article that has an affiliate link with a 5 paragraph disclaimer to justify why I am using that link, but maybe I should write a post about that and then drop a 1 liner link somewhere.

I don’t know why all that would be needed. Even if you just stuck in a parenthetical “(affiliate link)” mention after the link, i would have a hard time saying there was anything scammy going on.