When my old Lenovo desktop mobo and hdd started going south I did a craigslist deal for a better desktop. And bought a guy's self-made rig. The only way I could square the value to the price was to beg him to leave an 8GB stick in it so I could migrate myown 8GB. Up until 10 months ago I ran many years of 8GB. 16 GB is a luxury.
I was/am keenly aware and sensitive, like you are, to resource wasting and resource hogging, system monitor and htop and I are all well-acquainted. And when my old hardware began deteriorating, I thought I might like to try a lighter, leaner horse as well. But I didn't. I'm glad you have your cake (budgie) and can eat it too via settings access with your setup, minus some bugs.
I have to imagine there is a learning curve with these light shells. If I didn't beg that guy for the extra 8GB I'd still be running 8GB. While many people call a ddr3 stick "cheap" it's really not to me especially this year, and so this thread struck a nerve. Sorry nothing to contribute but I really remembered that anxiety (the resource game) about the 8gb.
edit: typo
