Wow, Dave was right, this is a great place for learning. In just under 24 hours, I've already learned that I need to find another place to ask my questions. Thanks, guys!
I know that you guys get noob questions and noob mistakes in going about things, but that's going to be true of just about any forum regardless of its subject matter. I myself have seen the type of question that I asked above in many different kinds of forums. I've searched the threads here, and I know that the things that I listed are important to have, I just don't know if they should be the first things out of the gate.
I know there are probably a number of ways to skin the same cat and that everyone has their own approach/slant. My own approach is to buy things for the present need, but with an eye towards the future. Unfortunately, being a noob, I can't be sure that I'm not missing something else that I might need up front. If there is, I'll either need to buy less expensive examples of the items listed above to make room for other things, change some of them out for things of higher immediate priority, or just save more (which I plan on doing anyway).
For those of you who bothered to look at my post in the first place, thank you for your time.