You're not alone in the affordability issue..I have an Icom T7h HT that does well on my local repeater and is used mostly for Sunday Night Net and Skywarn,  and an older Yaesu 2 meter/70 cm. mobile which is going in the car when we quit getting snow up here in the frozen north..The Yaesu is interesting because it uses two antennas..one for each frequency, and monitors both at the same time. Both were given to me.  I do have an RTS-SDR but can't utilize decent antennas since I rent. My solution at this point is going to be CW.  A small CW transceiver with a field antenna and a decent key might be financially in my reach..and re-learning code is kind of fun. (I used to get 15 wpm back in boy scouts..but you forget a lot in 56 years. )The interesting thing about amateur radio to me is that there is something out there to interest just about anyone that wants to be interested..you can get in to antennas..to packet radio..to echolink..to very very faint station contacts..to satellites (the SDR works well for that) to ragchewing..to joining a local club and getting involved in whatever they are doing. It certainly is keeping me interested..I'm 71 and took the Technician in November because 2 meters is used for Skywarn here..then the General last week..and am planning on the Extra this summer..either before or after the new test comes out at the end of June.  I guess my attitude is do what you can with what you've got..and enjoy it as much as possible.