I stopped woodworking because of the noise and the dust, and the kickback I got from the router once that scared the woodworking out of me. Stupid, I know. I'm now saving up for hand tools and your work is inspiring!
Not stupid at all. Makes total sense a really bad experience would put you off it.
I had a lot of fun doing all the research to figure out what to buy. Your best bet is to pick a project, then break that project down into parts, then buy the tools you need to do the first few parts of the project. It's a good way to get you woodworking asap for the least amount of money and keep you from wasting too much money if you lose interest. You can buy the tools for the next part of the project when you get to it