Wait, you live in the United States where homebrewing supplies are in plenty,
you haven't even made a malt extract brew for starters, and you're already giving up?
I think you're worrying too much.
I live in Japan, a land where homebrewing supplies are supposedly obtainable online,
but for some reason always always out of stock. And they aren't cheap either... so I improvised.
(Hell no way I was going to pay $56.50 for a plastic fermenter bucket, or $48 for a wort chiller.)
This is what I used to make my first brew:
11.5 Litre polyethylene water tank @ $10
Spigot for the water tank @ $5
50cm of plastic tubing @ $0.60
Rubber bung @ $4.80
Airlock @ $2.30
And everything else, I got from the kitchen (pots, funnel, bleach and stuff). In total, It doesn't even cost $23 dollars.
I used a bathtub full of cold water to chill my wort, and our thermometer was for frying so it wouldn't read below 25C.
I don't have a hydrometer, racking cane, no-rinse sanitizer and all those other wonderful items to make your life easier.
But it was enough equipment to make a 3 gallon batch of Weizenbier and hey, it tastes decent and good enough for my first attempt.
I suggest putting your All-grain mashing setup project aside, and make a couple of partial mash brews which,
as far as i know only requires a pot, colander, thermometer and a grain bag.
I heard you can even do an all-grain mash in a cooler box, so you could do that too.
Anyways, RDWHAHB and good luck on your brewing!