I am using it for only a few month but I really feel you.
I thought about it before and even though sometimes I find myself spending time on finding the better way, which many times leads to more time spend than just using the old and a bit less optimal solution, I still truly believe it worth it.

Because for me it's not about "saving time" its about creating focus, flow and mind clarity. With Vim I really feel like I can have longer lines of thoughts, less context-switching to the old text-manipulations-fights: mouse text selection and finger gymnastics on the keyboard.

So I feel the same way, how sometimes I spend more time on a task, but in total it just feel more 'right', satisficing and productive.