That's true. Time is money. But it depends on how you value your time as opposed to how the person metering your stardust values his.
In the beginning, when you're learning what's right for you, it's going to take time. You're going to have to learn some things. Once you find out what stuff you like, it gets a lot easier. It eliminates a lot of options that you don't have to consider or experiment with anymore.
If you don't like dripping, don't drip. If you find a particular clearomizer too "fiddly", there are others. If you don't like filling cartos, buy pre-filled ones. But until you invest the time in the first place, you're not going to know what you do or don't like, and nobody can predict it for you.
As far as the meter. It's like a tire gauge. You don't absolutely need one, but it'll save you time and money in the long run and can prevent problems. If your battery is not firing, you can buy another one. Or, in 30 seconds, you can find out with a meter if the switch is bad, if the charger isn't working right, or if the center post of the connector got pushed down 1/64th of an inch. If your juice is getting tasteless or your carto isn't working anymore, you can throw it away and start over, or you can check to see if there's continuity so you know whether the problem is a bad connection or a burned out wire or an increase in resistance caused by over-use. You can get a perfectly adequate meter for $10 and diagnose any number of common problems with it. A good tire gauge costs that much.
