I'm with you, Binos.
I have reason to create fairly small spreadsheets for work on a regular basis whilst relying on my entire knowledge of Excel which is, to say the least, basic.
It annoys me too when a sheet which only needs to have ten or twenty columns and a couple of hundred rows goes on and on forever. For one thing it makes using vertical scroll bar to whizz to the approximate area of the sheet you want to work on a hit and miss affair. If it only represented the rows in use it'd be far easier to judge.
So, I for one am glad you asked the question. I too shall be trying the solutions suggested.