I guess for us it was always a wood supply thing. We didn't have a lot of wood to choose from so we worked up everything we could get our hands on. To give an example one time we cut up an apple orchard on the HALVES with the owner doing nothing. Big wood looks good, work wise, compared to that! That burns into your mindset not to waste anything when you have been hard up for a supply in the past.
Now we have more than we know what to do with but still work it all up. It wasn't until the last 10 years I got a saw with a 36 inch bar. Many a times before that we'd use 20ish bars and end up splitting a section out of the standing tree so we could finish dropping it. It is all possible if you want to do it and have the time.
We never noodled before and still don't. Used to split all by hand then made a smaller hydraulic. Hand split to workable size. Then got a homemade 3 point to go on the ground to do the bigger ones but still a pain to roll a 3 ft plus beech into position. After years of doing that I built another to do it all and should be the last one I need.
To me, it is more of a progression thing. I use the money savings from using wood heat to reinvest into making it easier to "gather the fuel". We all get older and slower so making it possible to KEEP on doing it as we age is an important aspect to me. Some would rather keep little to no costs in their operations but I'm more into the long term outlook of doing it. Been doing it for over 30 years now and hope to be able to do more.
Bottom line is I actually enjoy doing it, kind of a sense of accomplishment thing for me. Feels better to have a barn full of wood than to finally make it to level 10 in the latest video game.