Hi leeroy,
good on ya for starting out and giving it a go,its more than doable on your budget, as to information on starting out its all been said a million and 1 times before on here and the list of information you will need is endless, your best bet is to go back 3-4 pages on the forum and look at the info given to other new starters and then raise specific questions about the bits your unsure of.
Stew