I disagree, journal on flash drive is bad for memory life span. In fact default Linux practice is "has journal", since it is now off in official builds IMO the developers definitely have already considered this.
The entire image handling for x86 (and other targets using ext4 or block device based rootfs in general) needs to be overhauled imho.
Ideally the default size of the image shouldn't matter and the trailing partition should simply be extended and the contained fs online-resized (in the ext4 case) on first boot.
So far nobody stepped up to implement this though. Patches in this direction would likely have a high chance to go into the tree.
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Within sensible limits, please. Consider OpenWrt may be (and in my case actually is) installed on sizable hard disks.
Sure, every write operation shortens the life of flash memory. But you can push up the limits by buying brands with a good reputation or even high endurance cards.
I'm using pi-like devices since 2017 with about 50-70 sdcards (sandisk, samsung, kingston, transcend) and never had any failure with one of these cards. I think the wearing aspect is a little overestimated.
You have to weigh up what is worse:
- a weared out sdcard or
- a non-booting device because of a corrupted filesystem
For me the decision is very clear: a clean filesystem is more important than the few $$$ or €€€ for a new sdcard.
I think everyone should make up their own decision, what's more or less important. 
Lucky you. I have 2 wore-out cards, both with good brands, one Toshiba, one sandisk. Different scenarios, different choice.