I think that’s just the way it is for desktop env.
So what you did seems correct IMO (did the same as well).
Here’s a way to remove them all at once and related discussions (haven’t tested): Howto: Disable most gnome default applications (and what they are) - #3 by cwyc
Note that removing gnome related apps won’t improve perf much as more storage related (assuming these apps don’t start by default on startup).
Some benchmark here for different desktop environments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rPdeiCugXo
Enabling swap will prolly help a bit: