After watching better linux youtubers go through this process, I modified it to fit my needs and did this exact set up on my laptop.
Replicated here for you to take a look.

Switched from Manjaro to:
Debian Testing
Cinnamon
Btrfs
Timeshift

Also installed nala
sudo apt install nala (debian testing only)

youtube.com/watch?v=IdqkjpsyUN…