@JereBear I did already use the image compression tool u suggested. And it indeed strips of a lot of the size.
But it does have a side effect, even when choosing to keep 100% image quality.
To prevent the side effect I could opt for the losless option...but then it only removes around 300mb of each image.
Without compression
With compression (garbled look in my preview window + color pickers and other colorize tools act differently)
I now keep all my originals so at least I can still edit them without these side effects.
So, the rule I use now is that when an image goes beyond 3.5, 4mb...i will use compression. If it doesn't then I'll use original size.
Else too much hassle for me cause for editing I need to pay attention to two folders, original and compressed.