Don't bother with Thaumcraft until you're about mid-level. I don't care what the plebeians say, it's
not an early game mod.
Scan everything. Machines, decoration, inside and out,
everything.
Use this.
http://ythri.github.io/tcresearch/
"Enjoy."
I'd argue that, really. Now that you can direct your research there are some REALLY useful early game tools. After grabbing the research masteries, and maybe the decon table, grab Thaumium. Straight upgrade to iron in most everything you use it for, and can be set up with minimal infrastructure. Useful either as straight tools and armor before you get your TiCo smeltery up, or as parts of you TiCo tools after. If you're willing to venture into the Nether, the Arcane Lamp is a wonderful replacement for that ugly, ugly torch spam you are stuck with early game. Grabbing Goggles of Revealing early is handy, too, as you can sort of passively look around for nodes as you take your first steps exploring.
Beyond that, you are much, much better served to make a thaumometer as early possible. It is much, much easier to scan a little as you go rather than waiting and then having to pull everything out of storage, drop it on the ground, and then scan it in bulk.
Now, I would say you don't want to go too heavy into TC early. Beyond a few simple crucible recipes and workbench stuff, you won't really have the infrastructure in place. But that really is the beauty of TC, you should not try to do too much at once. Grab 4 or 5 recipes at a time, set up a bit of kit, go do something else. As long as you have a few bookshelves or whatnot near your research table, and a deconstruction table handy you are willing to spend 5 minutes with during down time, you shouldn't run out of aspects. It is only when you try to do it all at once you end up stuck.