The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim – Mutually Exclusive Choices in the Game

You may want to rethink the Werewolf thing.

You can still get cured of Lycanthropy (werewolf-ism) later in the Companions Questline if you really don't want to be a werewolf, but it's really useful.

I've used it to clear out the top-side of forts quickly (where there are 6-7 guards hanging around), and I've used it when I'm facing a really tough boss. It gives you an edge, and if you do the Ill Met By Moonlight Quest and choose to save Sinding, you can keep the Ring without the curse (allowing you an extra transformation every day).

There are two things you miss out on when you're a werewolf: Sleeping bonuses, and Vampirism. But you get neat perks in return (you can get rid of those Cure Disease Potions, and you can get "Wolf Shouts").

In a general sense, I focus on paying to level skills that would take a long time to accrue manually:

• Lockpicking
• Whatever armor I don't use often (e.g. Heavy Armor for a sneak thief),
• Conjuration
• Sneak

For the rest, I just alter my play style to have them level up quickly, or I use a number of exploits to level them quickly.

I leveled up block extremely quickly after level 53 by going into a dwemer ruin with a Master Dwemer sphere and just let it wail on my light armor and on my shield, and healing myself with a restoration spell. It took about 30 minutes, but I went from 50-100 in that time for block, and light armor went from 60-90.