[perry]

its simple to manage your own maintained vps.

just buy a cheap vps at a leb (lowendbox.com) server with 128 - 256 mb ram 1 core.
to learn manage it your self.

start with installing and updating your programs and the linux/windows (try to avoid windows trust me when you know about linux windows is crap)

by centos:

you can install webservers by your self with nginex mysql named (bind9) or apache davecot/postfix.

simply run these commands:

yum install nginex -y
yum install phpmyadmin -y
yum install davecot -y
yum install apache -y

and look on the internet for detailed installation

you can get easystarted with that by installing a panel (such as ispconfig, vestacp, kloxo-mr, centos webpanel and etc)

and update your server for security patches by doing:

yum update (for installed progs security)
or
yum upgrade (for a complete new version with added features or removed due to security)

-----------------------
ubuntu:

you can install webservers by your self with nginex mysql named (bind9) or apache davecot/postfix.

simply run these commands:

apt-get install nginex -y
apt-get install phpmyadmin -y
apt-get install davecot -y
apt-get install apache -y

and look on the internet for detailed installation

you can get easystarted with that by installing a panel (such as ispconfig, vestacp, and etc)

and to maintain updates upgrade:

apt-get update (simple package updates to maintain security)
apt-get upgrade (just set a completly new version to the pakage)

i hope this wil help you consider your own managed vps
if you need more help sure to keep posting here im always happy to help.

perry