i feel ya on not being the richest man in the world. check out my grow. i've got maybe $80-100 invested.

you should consider the white paint. and get a digital thermometer/hydrometer (you should be able to get both for around $10. shoot to keep your temp between 72-78F when you are running the lights. as far as the rest of the lights, you can just add as you go. no worries.

as far as the light schedule, when your plant(s) are in veg you run your light more than 12 hours, one of the if not the most common is 18/6. some prefer 24/0. when you are ready you put your plant into flower. they need at least 12 hours of continuous darkness. don't allow any light to get in during dark periods as this promotes vegatative growth and not budding. when you change the light cycle you are simulating natures cycle of telling the cannabis plant that it is time to flower and produce seeds because it's almost winter, hence the buds.

you might also want to invest in a timer for your lights. you can get a cheap model that plugs into the wall that your lights plug into that will control the light cycle for you. can get one for between $3-5. the more light the plants get the more growth. approximately 2/3 of your growth will happen AFTER you put you plants into flower. this varies strain to strain and is just a rough estimate.

also you can make sure the spectrum of your lights is correct for the stage of growth that you are in. for veg you want 6500K which is towards the blue end of the spectrum and for flower you want 2700K which lies more towards the red/orange side of the spectrum.

are you feeding any nutes? this should get you started.

-shake