Tailoring branch use case question

So I've got a use case that is cumbersome, and I'm wondering if it's a common one, or if anyone has found a better way to manage it. I have a repo that I work in where I make a set of changes to adapt it to my environment -- some config file changes and a couple code changes that help with debuggi

Files excluded but not ignored

I prefer to not add core.* files to my ignore listings because I find it helpful to see them in git status -- It helps me notice and clean them up periodically. Not having them ignored is also good ,because it allows git clean to care of core.* files. The problem is that git add -A, git sta