Hello there,
I am new to advanced networking and Linux system administration; and I have recently taken on the challenge of setting up a secure home network.
After reading through various guides and tutorials; I have decided to use IPTables for managing firewall rules on my Linux based router. Although; I am running into some confusion and could really use your expertise.
My router is running Ubuntu Server 20.04.
I want to ensure that only necessary traffic is allowed in and out of my network while keeping it secure from potential threats.
I have added some basic rules to allow HTTP; HTTPS; and SSH traffic; but I am not entirely sure if my approach is correct. Could someone provide a simple yet effective example of IPTables rules that cover the essentials for a home network? 
I want to block all incoming traffic by default and then allow only specific traffic. What is the best way to structure these rules to avoid accidentally locking myself out of the router?
I need to set up port forwarding for a couple of services hosted on devices within my network. How do I configure these rules while maintaining a secure firewall?
Also, I have gone through this post: https://www.nixcraft.com/t/how-to-block-all-private-ip-addresses-using-iptables-in-linux-salesforce/ which definitely helped me out a lot.
How can I set up logging for dropped packets and potential intrusion attempts? Any recommendations for tools or scripts that work well with IPTables would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help and assistance. 