You could also "virtualize" the different tasks that you do by merely using a distro like Linux Mint as your base OS + VirtualBox. The base OS should NOT be used for anything else except to run your VMs to avoid it getting infected with malware and being exploited.
Isn't Qubes OS more suited if you want to virtualize everything?Quote
Linux Mint is probably good as a base OS + use Lubuntu for your VMs.
That works very well too 