The first one seems to be a lack of version control hygene? just work the way you normally would at work, if you know you're doing exploritory coding then make a branch, commit the WIP if you have to and rebase / squash clean up the history later.

The second problem you can overcome by deciding what you want to get out of a side project, if it's purely for learning a new framework then approach it with that goal in mind, explore the tools the framework gives you for solving common development tasks, compare with other frameworks but don't expect to have a fully working functional side project from this process. If you want to make a new personal website then approach it with that goal in mind, which usually would mean using a stack you're familiar with.

As for your initial question, yes I always use git, for everything. I've been burnt in the past and learned my lesson the hardway.