HELLO FELLOW NOOB!!! 

I took the plunge just about a month ago.  Started by testing the waters with buying mining contracts for 24hours from Ebay.  Expensive way to mine, but it got me started and I learned the ropes about bitcoin and how it all functions.  Pool setup, wallet setup, exchange setup, etc etc........

Now I understand the basics so I bought some mining gear that will be here this week.  From what I read and researched from the difficulty in mining going up.......I'm just trying to break even on all the gear I just got.  After that, it's all gravy and I got equipment that is paid in full.  There are several bitcoin mining calculators that can help give you an idea on what kind of money you can make from mining.

I am actually moving more into litecoins(LTC) since the difficulty is lower. Plus....asic mining hasn't spoiled the difficulty yet (not yet anyways, that I know of) with having these super powerful mining chips that are out now for ASIC mining.  Seems like to even be worthwhile mining bitcoin, you now have to spend quite a bit on gear that seems to get outdated in a very short time span.

Good luck on your mining ventures!!!

$$Happy Mining$$