Actually, the startup costs are the cheapest part of it... to start you only need:

• A plastic bucket (usually something around 30 litters) with a syphon or the ones like mine with a tap.
• A spoon and a 1 to 3 litre cup/container to measure
• Bottle beers (I use the ones with mechanical cap, so I don't need to use a machine to bottle up every time)

And then for the beer:

• Sanitizer (no-rinse one)
• Water
• Yeast
• Malt extract + enhancers (basically sugar or some mix with malts)
• Priming sugar (to make the bubbles) if you are going to do it on the bucket or priming drops if you are going to do it on the bottle.

Sanitize everything very well, boil 2 to 3 litres of water and mix with the extract+enchancer, then fill up with water until it cools below 30C. Wait 2 or 3 weeks (or until fermentation ends), bottle up with priming drops or sugar. Wait another week and Voilá Beer!

Easy peasy!