My method is Rube Goldberg to be sure, but it works well and causes no problems that I'm aware of. I do use a rear stand. For the front I use cinder blocks with wood on top, as I pick up the front of the bike, my daughter pushes the blocks in, voila. I set it down carefully to avoid scratching the bottom of the forks - visible only by the odd ant or squirrel anyhow. I do have the ability to hoist from the ceiling in my garage but find that to be more of a PITA than the blocks. I do hoist when removing the forks though.
The balancer came as part of the tire changing set up. I've been looking for the link to the darn thing, no luck so far. I'll post it up as soon as I can find. It's a gravity balancer, using precision bearings on a suspended "H" bar. Set the tire/wheel on it, mark bottom, weight and spin til it doesn't stop at the same place twice. They claim it's many times more accurate than shop balancers which have a time factor to contend with. I'd tend to agree. Since I started changing my own - years now - the balance is consistently on, regardless of speed. Not always the case before.
The whole process requires a bit of muscle and care to not scratch things up but after the first couple changes it's really not a big deal. Make sure the tire is mounted with the rotation arrows pointing correctly though - don't ask me how I know.
