Fair. You may benefit from creating different minimal templates for each use: Understanding Qubes: Why is it not a problem to have many apps in the template? - #5 by BEBF738VD
This is probably gonna help you more in keeping things light (and more secure), than cherry picking light apps and putting them all in one template.
At the end of the day a system has to be usable, and here you get to choose your compromises.