It's been a while since I checked in, but here are some words of wisdom gleaned from my seasoned coworkers, and a few of my own.
-Shop the scrapyards and scrap bins of local CNC shops for material. The cost is usually the going rate for scrap.
-Ask around at your local CNC shops and see if you can browse through their scrap tooling. You can usually get inserts and drills that are still very useful in a hobby setup that are useless for a CNC setup. That goes double for shops that don't re-sharpen drills and mills. Many shops will give this away, or sell it cheap.
-Commercial egg cartons are supremely useful. Uline sells them here
http://www.uline.com/BL_1907/Egg-Filler-Flats
-Iscar Picco tools are very handy. They come in a variety of styles, and are fairly easy to make a holder for.
-A good set of stones if invaluable. I use boride edm stones daily at work. I highly recommend the T2 variety for steel.
-Scotchbrite, Scotchbrite wheels, and cratex will fix most minor defects, such as chatter, clamping scuffs, and small steps.
-Don't waste money on cheap measurement tools. You get what you pay for.
-Check estate sales and craigslist for old machinist toolboxes. I got an original run Kennedy toolbox with about $1500 in tools for $300.
-Always check under the drawers when you buy a used toolbox. You never know what you might find. I found over $5600 in that $300 toolbox
(and about 1000 allen wrenches)