Congratulations on the new home! And yeah... buy a ladder. One of the "a-shaped" ones that extends, like the Little Giant. And buy a set of battery powered tools. I like Milwaukee. I've built entire buildings with this simple kit. And don't use ANY screw other than a star-drive. There's just no reason to use anything else as a fastener. This kit is a good starter, with a range of useful sizes. And get a home-owner's book. I have the Fix It Yourself Manual, which makes any kind of typical home repair pretty simple and straightforward. There's something about having a book open to the right page, when you are under the kitchen sink trying to figure out how to fix the garbage disposal, that beats a phone or tablet with a YouTube video every single time...
Couple of key things: 1. Camout. This is when the bit jumps out of the head of the screw, and scratches/damages the surface you are working on. It can also strip the screw head. It's almost impossible with star-head screws, but very common with cross-head (Phillips Head) and straight (flat head) screws. 2. Torque/Shear. A lot of people use drywall screws for everything. But it is easy to spin the head off the top of the screw (and leave the shaft in the wood) while mounting your cabinets on the wall. And those cabinets might fall down because drywall screws (and most phillips head screws) don't have much sheer strength, so the weight of the cabinet pressing down on the "neck" of the screw can shear the head off, and your cabinet falls off the wall with all your dishes in it. Star-head screws are (almost universally) made of tougher stuff with head and neck designs that are specifically made to stop shearing and carry those lateral loads better. 3. Standardization. No matter what you choose, standardize on it throughout your house. It is HUGELY annoying to have to use three different bits to remove a single light fixture. If you standardize and just keep one type of screw on hand, you will make and fix things with that one standard type of screw, and your life will get progressively easier over the duration of homeownership. (Related: I just spent an entire day going through my dad's workshop with him, and sorting a dozen different types of nails into a dozen different glass jars, and a dozen different screw types into a dozen other jars... and this man can't even turn a screwdriver anymore, due to age-issues with his wrist joints.) 4. Bits. Star-head screws always come with fresh bits in the box of screws. So you never need to buy another bit, and the ones you have are always fresh and new. It's a little thing, but... it's a big thing. Finally, check out Steve Ramsey on YouTube. He does basic woodworking tutorials, and is great. This is his one about screws that got me on board with this way of thinking:
Don't worry about it overmuch. If you need screws, it will be kinda hard to buy anything else. The philips-head screws are only cheaper in lb quantities while anything a normal homeowner might want is pretty much "proprietary star drive with proprietary drive head in marvelous snap package at price point that seems attractive". Bear in mind that if you're actually loosening and tightening things by hand, star drive are a pain in the ass because if you don't have the exact right driver you can't accomplish shit whereas if you've got a phillips then there's probably four screwdrivers in the drawer that will mostly work.Whats the benefit of star-drive screws?
I run Black & Decker Matrix. They are mediocre versions of every single tool, but they also cost like $40. I have no reasonable need for a zip saw, but I have reasonable need for a $40 zip saw. I use a router about every other year, but every other year I have a $40 router. And the stuff is so cheap and packaged so weirdly that I have like three drill motors, three drills, an impact driver and five batteries. Including some that are supposed to work my weed whacker but will keep a jigsaw going forever. I actually use the dumb thing to compress the air in my casting chamber. Ostensibly that's so I can fill my wife's tires when she has a slow leak but you put a Schrader valve on stuff and suddenly it's useful.
Interesting device and solution! I like it. I just happened to get a great deal on the basic Miwaukee drill/driver set with two batteries and a charger. After that, getting any other tool that fit the same batteries just made sense... and the tools have held up really well over years of moderate use. (I tend to go building-crazy for a couple of months, and then build nothing for several months.)
Yeah you buy into a battery system more than anything else. I find that most power tools suffer from "dive knife syndrome" - the only thing you need it for is to tap the pommel on your tank to get the attention of other divers and mmmmmmmmmaybe use it to pry something up or cut something you're tangled in. Ideally it's got a blunt tip and is bright yellow or orange so that when you drop it you can find it. Yet most dive knives, because they're bought by weekend warriors who think they're Navy SEALs, look like this: The average consumer drill looks and acts like something you would use to single-handedly assemble a motorcycle crate with, when really, 90% of its functionality is swag hooks for your wife's fuchsia baskets.