Having a hard time keeping track of what is on the cloud. i.e: I’m sick of icloud

Been using apple laptops for years but new to iphones (privacy concerns).

I Just realized my notes are on the cloud: message drafts, passwords, life goals.

I know it’s my fault for not reading the manual, but it’s really hard to keep track of what’s synced on icloud by default and what isn’t. Why are local notes off by default (insane)

does anybody else feel like this and is there a way to logout from icloud and still having a usable iPhone that can be found when lost.