Order for maxing skills in the workshop and in game plus freeups?

I'm sure there is an optimum order to max skills in the workshop but I'm finding it to be a better QOL upgrade to max out the cheaper less impactful skills first. I'm new to the game and currently farming T1 with blender to about 2000. I feel like I am just getting to the point where starting a new run does not need me to focus all my attention on immediately upgrading skills for the first 150ish levels in order to get things setup. I maxed out AS first and then cash bonus and coin per kill. My reasoning for this was my dmg and hp are high enough that I don't have to worry about it for a few hundred waves. I've started to max out the other less expensive and less important free ups, multi shot, thorns, shock wave, bounce shot, etc. for the same reason. Not being forced to micromanage the start of the run has made the game more passive and less of a time commitment. Also, the impact of these less important skills being completed is a better use of money than getting 2 or 3 levels of hp right now for the value. Is this the normal path people take?

This also seems to be the point where free ups become important. After unlocking the recovery packages, I am at a point where purchasing the recovery amount and over heal stats in a run are extremely expensive. It's better to let the free ups buy them for me. In order to ensure that those free ups get applied to those skills I have found myself maxing out other skills like range damage, cash per wave, and coins per wave because it's cheaper and reduces the pool of skills that the free ups can be applied to. While cash per wave is not extremely impactful, is it correct to max it out so that I can get better value from the free ups going towards recovery package upgrades that cost massively more?

Am I thinking about this right or am I crippling my runs? With 3 labs unlocked (will have the 4th one later today) I feel like I am at a point where spending the time grinding T1 with 1 lab spot finishing the last game speed upgrade, another slot on lab speed, and the third on garlic thorns is a good time to knock out these skills for a more passive game play style. It feels like when I get that 4th slot and free up a second slot after game speed is finished, I will start getting regular power bumps by being able to focus on upgrades that will impact the number of tiers I can get. Once I get the steady incremental research bumps that will cascade into more tiers and then more coin to purchase the higher cost hp/dmg.