Perhaps if you have a certain kind of monitor, presumably an expensive one? I have a no-TB 2017 MBP that has two ports, and I use one to charge and the other to connect a monitor over HDMI. That means I have zero free ports.

And since I run in clamshell mode, I can't even unplug the power cord temporarily, as the computer will only run in clamshell mode if it is plugged into power.

I do have an Anker mini-dock dongle, but it gets very hot when I use it, so I only use it when necessary. Also, it annoyingly cannot be used to charge any devices, so I can't even plug my iPhone into it to charge. I'm sure there are some other docks out there that are better, but when I was looking in 2017 it wasn't clear which ones those were (aside from the $200+ ones, which I wasn't about to purchase).

This is the one I am waiting for: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-dock but ya, not cheap...

This one a bit cheaper: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-hub

Yes I do that

What type of monitor do you use? I just did some quick googling, and it looks like they're 2x as expensive as monitors that just have HDMI. It's possible that they're higher-end in other ways (resolution, brightness), but I paid about $120 for a 24" Samsung a couple years ago, and it looks like the cheapest Thunderbolt/USB-C monitor I can get is $190. But that's only 21", which is pretty small.