I look at the AH as my own personal bank that stores all my goods and influence, and also provides many services for a small fee. Notably, it will convert my ancient bones to spell inks, attune my enhancements, and change the level of my recipes/enh. It will also convert enh and recipes to other types.
So I dump all my salvage and recipes into the bank for a low, sell-now price; I don't craft any of them unless it's a very valuable recipe. Then I withdrawl low cost recipes to craft and convert, and have the AH perform it's attunement service on my enh, or I leave the enh in the AH and earn interest. I can deposit my enh and withdrawl it at any later date; it will always be there without me needing to manage inventory or move things between characters.
I don't enjoy the market game and would rather not have to play it, but I've found this way of using it to be the most useful and least bothersome.