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Hi Shannon, welcome to IIS...
Buy the biggest aperture scope you can afford. At your stage, aperture is king. As for eyepieces three are enough - low, medium and high power, say 25, 12 and 6mm, budget plossl ones work quite well.
DO...
- bring it inside after use, this will help the dew to evaporate and if the scope has bits made of MDF or wood or even cardboard, this will extend the life of these.
- cover it with a fabric cover of some sort that "breathes" but keeps dust out - cotton sheet or pillow case is fine.
- put a shower cap over an open tube is good to keep dust out..
- park or store the optical tube so that the mirrors are either vertical (tube horizontal) or
- if you must store the tube vertically, do this with the primary mirror at the top facing down - this ensures dust will not settle on it - but secure it so it can't fall over.
- consider putting a loose-fitting cotton sock or similar over the secondary to keep dust off it.
Everything you can do to stop grime collecting on the mirrors will extend the life of the coatings on them. While they can be cleaned, this (and grime) are the main things that will shorten the life of the coatings. Ultimately they can be re-coated too but that is costly.
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