When isn't money scarce? Maybe if I make better long-term plans, it won't be one day.
Back when Sears still existed as a major US retailer, I bought a decent starter set of Craftsman tools. Ratchets and sockets, wrenches, pliers, and so forth. You have it easier if everything is metric-only.
There is a place for both "good enough to do the job once" and "will last a lifetime." I'm not a mechanic. The guys I know who work on cars all day every day consider my tools bare minimum at best, and they own a lot more of everything. But I have had very bad luck with the cheapest tools I have bought from time to time at stores like Harbor Freight. Those are the ones to take when you might lose them before you break them, I suppose.