I wanted to weigh in a bit on time spent digging for minis and offer my own solution: pick them before the game starts.
What I do now with counters and minis is before a session begins, after I clean the table (I have a messy toddler who eats at the table) I set out the Battlemat and pick counters/minis of the appropriate size and type and set them up behind my DM screen. When an encounter begins it's simply a matter of grabbing the minis I need and setting them up. It cuts out on all the digging during a game and keeps the flow of combat smoother.
As far as cheap plastic minis go, I am with Baraendur; in that at a buck twenty-five a pop I am getting a ton of these things. I have 140 of them on order as we speak, and I got a great deal on them (about a buck o' nine each including tax and shipping straight to my door) and I don't have to spend any time painting them unless I want to touch them up or something. This is nice since I have that toddler and a job. Sure, I can paint better than most of what I have seen but when you factor in the array of colors I need and time spent painting, these'll do just fine for most encounters. I'm still purchasing Reaper minis to paint up for important NPCs or on impulse when I see a nice sculpt, but for the most part I intend to use the WotC minis as they suit my purpose just fine and I don't have as much time for minis as I used to before I started a family.
It's a nice bonus that I can play a separate game with the minis, and I hope the game is fun. If it is, I'll likely try and build a set to drag around for games at the LGS or against friends now and again when I am looking for a bit of action but don't have a normal D&D game scheduled. Even if the mini game sucks I'll still be very pleased at having a cheap source of minatures that take zero effort.