I have a feeling that I don't need really good lenses at first, because I'll be the limiting factor when it comes to taking good pictures for the first year at least. The problem with your strategy of purchasing second-rate lenses is that if you were able to take some nice pictures, you would be less pleased with the result because bad optics ruined the quality of the picture. If you are not certain, but you want to be prepared for anything, a range of 28mm to 300mm is a decent starting point. You might find a 28-105mm lens more useful. If you don't plan to take really close cropped portraits, then you can use the telephoto zoom lens for your portraits.
Zooms are convenient, but normal lenses are great learning tools for the beginning photographer.