I guess I have a slightly different take on beginning reloading. Oh, I agree a manual needs to be the first step. If you can find a friend who reloads it would be best to let them show you the ropes. That will help you the most in deciding what equipment you will want, as well as helping you get started with good safe reloading habits. But looking back, if I were unsure about reloading and wanting to get my feet wet without a huge investment, I would start with some cheap investments, but also ones that I will still use as I move further into the hobby.
So here's my list:
1. Manual
2. Lee Hand Press (you will always find more uses for this press even if you move onto progressives later)
3a. Set of Carbide 4 die Lee set for .45 Auto (this includes a taper crimp die)
3b. Set of Hornady Neck resizing die set for the 7-08 (if you have a bolt gun, if auto get the Full Length Resizing dies) because they come with a rebate for 100 free bullets.
4. Digital Scale, they are both cheap and very accurate.
5. Powder Trickler
6. Loading Block, you can make one with a thick board and a drill press, or just buy a plastic one for a couple of bucks.
7. Case lube and lubing pad(only needed for the rifle brass)
NOTE: Neck resizing is easy with the Hand Press, FLR, unless all of your brass is being fired in your rifle before reloading, requires considerably more effort. I got hold of some military .308 brass once that had been run through a MG and even with my big old RCBS Rock Chucker it was difficult to do a full length resize.
Since you are loading relatively new brass (only fired one or two times) you can heat up water for cleaning, add a few tablespoons of lemon juice, let the brass soak for 15 minutes or so, and then dry. I still use this method before I make the brass all shiny with my Vibe Tumbler.
With this setup you can start making test loads and really get a good idea if reloading is something you want to do. I would start with the pistol loads because they are much simpler and do not require lubing the cases.
As you gain experience you will find a number of other tools will make life easier.
1. Bullet puller for fixing mistakes
2. Primer pocket cleaner and case brush
3. Chamfer tool
4. Vibe Tumbler with media (Some of the house brands are pretty good and cheap, like Midway's Frankfurt Arsenal)
5. Universal Deprimer die...even though I have another big press, I still deprime before I clean with the Hand Press. It is quick, easy and I don't have to go back and scrape primer pockets.
6. Hand Priming Tool with shell holders
7. Powder Measure...Get one that has micrometer adjustments. This doesn't make a measure more accurate but it makes it repeatable, so you can mark down the setting for one caliber, use the measure on other calibers and then come back and reset without having to go through the whole adjustment process again. Screw in stems just can not do this effectively. I personally don't care for or use the disk type measures, but they work for some people.
8. A Caliber...I would start with a cheap one, if you feel the need for a better one later you can still use the cheap one for checking accuracy of the better one.
9. Case trimmer...I had been reloading for quite a while before I started using one. Consistency and repeatability is the name of the game in reloading, so anything that can help that is useful.
10. A better Press
I wrote this rather quickly so I may have missed something, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I did.