I am a big fan of the cheap imported DMMs sold by Harbor Freight (and others.) They periodically go on sale ("Half Price!") and I picked up my last several for something like $3 each. (The dollar has been declining and the current sale is $5 each. Hmmph.) http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-digital-multimeter-90899.html
Get two; it's handy to be able to measure current and voltage at the same time.
With a cheap meter like this, you tend to be willing to use it a lot more often. But don't expect great accuracy; shorting the probes hardly ever yields a zero ohm reading, for instance, and the reading you get doesn't look very likely.