I spent about £3000 to start with on my own gear, now I can record as much as I want, when I want, so here goes.
Mackie 24/8 analogue desk (used) £1150
Cubase VST 5.1 £65 (used)
Built my own PC P4 3.0GHZ CPU 80GB HDD, Win XP OEM £300 (incl monitor, accessories CD drive...