First off, a warm welcome for HypoC who's about to join the sin of reefkeeping - once you sink in, there's no looking back, muahahahaha! Anyway, do read up a bit first - loads of very good links on my page, check out the Singapore Reef Club, all of them are friendly and keen to help. I'm not an expert, but some things from personal experience:

1) Most importantly, never listen to the sales pitch of marine shops. And never frequent those HDB-void-deck-Luohan-to-marine converts. They know nuts about the hobby. And will tell you that you need the most expensive of equipment and all sorts of nonsense. The only marine fish shop owner who's most reputable for dishing out educated and correct advice is Henry from Marine Life, at Hong Leong Gardens. Ha ha .. nice man.
2) Go slow, have patience. Do the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycling properly, which means the tank will be almost-empty for a few weeks at least to let the bacteria build up. And don't buy an anemone for the clownfish, they require intense lighting and pristine water conditions.

Didn't really have time to talk to you about everything, but since I started with a budget set-up as well, here are some of the essential equipment and cost breakdown for a 1.5 foot tank.

Viewing lights - any will do, try to go for the ones with a white/blue spectrum (to a knowledgeable shop owner, just ask for a colour temperature of 10,000 Kelvins or above) to discourage algae growth. No need to buy metal halides or T5 lamps, normal flourescents or PL lights will do just for aesthetics. Maybe $20?
Live rock - essential for biological filtration, they are going at hefty prices nowadays, so maybe can get them 2nd hand. Have plenty to spare you actually =D
Protein skimmer - to pull the organics out of the water before they can decompose into nitrites. A cheap airstone-driven one from Sander will cost about $25.
Salt - for a fish-only I guess the cheapest salts will work. Red Sea, Marine Environment single phase and Oceanic are ok. Tropic Marine and Marine Env dual phase are some of the most expensive but best synthetic salts, only essential if you're thinking of keeping corals.
Test kits - one of Red Sea's test kit "labs" will be good enough. Think you'll only need ammonia, nitrite and nitrate kits, pH and alkalinity (kH) are optional, don't waste money on calcium, phosphate, boron, silicate and other kits specific for coral-keeping. Actually you can get away with only the nitrate kit and one of Kent's Ammonia-Alert stickers. Just measure every 2-3 days until the ammonia-alert sticker reads 0 and nitrates have started to rise, and you're set to put in the fish.

For filtration, I personally favour natural bacterial filtration, with slight variations and names such as Berlin method, deep sand bed, refugiums and plenum system. I guess for a fish-only the usual freshwater cannister filter method might work, but nitrates will have to be monitored and frequent water changes become a must. Maybe do a search for these terms, should yield plenty of discussions about various natural filtration methods.

For setting up, just dump the sand (if you decide to use any) and pre-mixed synthetic salt mix in the first day, let the debris settle down or use a small cannister filter with filter floss to speed it up. Set up the protein skimmer in the tank, then the liverock can be added, and start the cycling process by throwing in a bit of raw, de-shelled prawn and let it rot. Watch the ammonia spike then go down to 0, at this point nitrites will spike then go down to 0, and finally nitrate will increase. Once ammonia and nitrite are 0 cycling is over, do a 25-50% water change to bring down the nitrate, and you're set to go with the livestock. The whole process should take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month.

Good luck with the tank!!! Post pics on your blog yah? ;)