Bringamosa:
septillion hear ya. Got a couple of those. I just like the barebone concept, building a very efficient arduino for my solar project at this point.
If you remove the LED and the voltage regulator, a Pro Micro is just as efficient als anything you can build. You save space because it has SMD parts, you essentially get two additional layers for free (it takes only the space of the pins on another board) and it has a standard footprint (meaning that you can publish other boards without forcing people to also get your wierd through-hole Arduino).
Also, I would consider getting into SMD parts. It is really easier than you would expect and it is so much nicer.