People should start with a simple small system and learn how it all works before spending a lot of money on fancy expensive stuff.
Start with a 12V system but plan on going 24V someday. One walmart marine deep cycle battery $100, ebay simple charge controller $10, small DC to AC inverter and/or a ebay grid tie inverter and some sort of switch that will let you go grid tie when your batteries are charged.
Something like this guy has.
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As you start to realize how it all works and what you can run on a small system you will want to expand and also have to motivation to do so when you realize you are saving money and not paying the power company for what you can make yourself.