I dont like having to call exec bash or whatever after ssh’ing into my machine just to get all my aliases and settings loaded.

Just add the -t option to your ssh session

ssh 192.168.1.77 -t 'exec bash'

I created an alias for my ssh

alias laptop-ssh="ssh 192.168.1.77 -t 'exec bash'"

Related External Links:

• Super User - run-remote-ssh-command-with-full-login-shell