Here's my advice:
Camera: Get your hands on working displays of Canon and Nikon types. I suggest Canon, but they're both great brands. Pick which brand you like best and get the cheapest DSLR that brand has to offer, just buy it new and with a kit lens. Don't buy a used camera unless you have someone with you who REALLY knows what to look for. A lot of times that small ding on the body can mean someone rubbed it up agains something hard, or they dropped it from 11 feet up and now the mirror doesn't lock up right, or one of another thousand different things. Whatever you do, make sure your camera comes with a manual and READ it.
Lenses: Learn what lenses will work on your camera and what lenses will not. Then check out craigslist and pawn shops. Google what to look for when buying used lenses so you know how to inspect them. Lenses are much easier to check out than cameras and they last a lot longer if properly taken care of. It might take a while, but find some good deals on used lenses. I can't tell you how many times I've bought a $25-50 old film camera at a pawn shop cause it came with a $300 lens that works just fine on my digital SLR. To start off with get a fast prime lens such as a 50mm f/1.8 ($100 new price difference between used and new with this lens is usually so small might as well buy new) and a cheap long zoom lens such as a 75-300mm or 50-250mm ($125-150 used, $200-300 new). Next start looking at fast zoom lenses such as 28-75mm f/2.8's. Don't be afraid to save some $$$ and go with Tamron or Sigma to start with. Then you'll probably want a nice wide angle such as 10-22mm or maybe a fisheye or something. And then maybe a fast telephoto zoom such as a 70-200mm f/2.8 after a few years. All of this is depends on what you like shooting, and I highly suggest to get a decent collection of prime lenses to start off with since they're faster and cheaper. Now, if there happens to be someone in your area that rents lenses, do that for the expensive glass since it'll be a lot cheaper than buying the lens.
Flashes: Get a decent external flash that swivels and bounces. You don't have to, but I suggest fork out the extra cash for one that has TTL or E-TTL. ($100-600). Play around with this thing for a year or two to really learn about strobe lighting on and off camera.
Tripod: I personally buy cheap tripods. I've never seen the point in paying $500 for one tripod when I can buy 20 cheap ones for that price. Pay $30-45 for two or three cheap ones and as they break use the others as replacements.
Monopod: If you plan on doing a lot of sport shooting with a large fast zoom lens, get one of these. ($30-50)
Filters: Get UV filters for all of your lenses. If you can afford $50-100 for each one, get the them, if not don't get the cheapest ones, but get a mid level one. Leave these on your lenses and you'll be very thankful you listened to my advise the first time you have a little "uh oh" and only break the filter and not the lens. Also look around the pawn shops and stuff at the old cheap film cameras that cost $10-50. Ask to see what they come with. A lot of times they'll come with UV, Star, ND, GND, etc filters that are worth more than what they're asking for for the whole camera. If the camera is one you'll never use, play with it a lot. Tear it apart to learn how it works. You'll be suprised how much you'll learn about photography doing that. Keep the bags, filters, etc that come in these kits cause filters can be used on just about any lens as long as they're the same size, or smaller with an adapter.
Editing software: If you shoot digital you'll need some kind of editing software. No need to spend $500 on Photoshop CS5 right now. Download
Get Gimp - Like Photoshop, Only 100% FREE for FREE and/or buy a $60 program like Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3. Now once you have this amazing tool on your computer, don't go overboard with it. Editing software can make a good picture a great picture, or it can make a great picture a pile of dog poo. It can NOT make a crappy picture a good one, or much less a great one. Learn how to take good pictures first, and then learn how to make them better.
That's just the beginning of equipment. I won't even get into studio lighting, remotes, etc.
While you're doing all this looking around and researching for equipment, learn as much about photography as you can. If you can take a class do that. It doesn't have to be a high school or college class. Those are GREAT to do, but if you don't have the time, find someone who will teach you the basics for $25 an hour or so. Come here often and read, read, read. Google terms that you're not familiar with and learn all about them. You can easily spend thousands of dollars on photography equipment, but if you don't know why you need a particular lens or something then you've just wasted your money. Give me $100.00 and I can buy some really crappy equipment, but get better pictures than someone who has $10,000.00 in stuff, but doesn't know an aperture from his a-hole.
Here's a good place to start learning: Start by reading the entire wikipedia page on Aperture
Aperture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Shutter Speed
Shutter speed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , and ISO
Film speed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Learn what a stop is, and how all three of those elements are combined into making an image, and how an image can be correctly exposed, over exposed, or under exposed depending on what you set your camera/lens to. If you buy your first DLSR and immediately turn it to "M" and start shooting, then you have done very well!
After that start looking up stuff like white balance, metering modes, focal length, angle of view, cropped sensor vs full frame and effective focal lengths, and on and on and on and on.
Knowledge really is the heart of photography. There are so many people out there who think they just need a "nice camera" to be a photographer. If your taking pictures in AUTO, then you're nothing more than a shutter release actuator, not a photographer. Want to try something fun? After you get your camera and do a little research on the linked topics, turn your LCD display OFF, and shoot 24-36 pictures, wait 4 hours to 4 days and then look at them on you computer. That's what it was like shooting film. If you learn how to do that, it'll make you much better at shooting digital.
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