We appreciate the update, Peter!
We're glad to hear that it seems to be resolved for now. Regarding iCloud storage and Notes, when using iCloud, it syncs the data and stores it on iCloud. To provide a bit of a description of how it works, when you're logged in and using iCloud for Notes, you're essentially opening a "window" to the iCloud server. Keeping that in mind, you can sync the note to iCloud, then go to Settings > Tap account > iCloud > Notes, and disable that. Upon doing so, any notes that are synced using iCloud would be removed from your device, but remain in iCloud.
That means, that you'd need to enable the feature each time to make changes from that device, or you can make changes from iCloud on a computer.
We hope that helps, and have a great week!