I have a crippling addiction to vinyl, I've had periods when I've kind of knocked it on the head for a while because it was just getting out of hand, but I'm actively collecting right now. My deck of choice is the Technics SL12xxMK2 and I wisely made sure I had secured myself a lifetime supply of them many years ago, I've got a pair of 1200's and 1210's. My record collection is small fry in collector circles but stupidly large by normal person standards, I've got a fairly well curated 3-4 thousand records.
Not in the UK sadly, the second hand market has been thoroughly picked over in all available avenues, the only way you can ever get a bargain at a charity shop or boot sale is if you are solely looking at 7" singles because they quite often aren't always being priced up via discogs. It's created a bit of a barrier to entry for new collectors because second hand records have had their prices raised to match that of new records, you used to be able to pick up lots of great records for cheap because they weren't the sought after first pressings or rarer collectible issues, not any more. The upside of the record companies re-pressing everything is how easy to get good quality presses (most of the time, sometimes they fuck it up) of stuff that wasn't easy or nigh on impossible to get hold of before.
My biggest advice if you are getting it to records is get a good stereo to listen to them through, I'm not saying go audiophile (don't do this) but get a decent amp and speakers, if the room is smaller and you've got bookshelf speakers, get a sturdy pair of stands for them, you'll get a lot more feeling out of listening to music this way.