I completely agree with Rolando on starting with one light ... and learning how to master it before adding a second light. We disagree on using Alien Bees ... but that's for another forum.
If you want cheap ... here's cheap ...
Way back when I started playing with photography and lighting, I also didn't have a large budget so I purchased a couple optical flash slaves (about $15 from Adorama or B&H) and put them onto my old speedlights (I had three old film camera, and had bought a flash for each of them, so I had a few old flash units laying around). I mounted the flash units on cheap light stands and attached umbrellas to them. I triggered all my lights with my main flash, which I put on a light stand and connected to my camera with a cheap PC cord. Sure, I could have started out with those continuous "Home Depot Work Lights" ... but I wanted to get used to using strobes, and besides being hot, those work lights don't simulate the strobe experience. After a year of shooting, moving from my "el cheapo" flash heads to professional strobes was an easy transition ... and to this day, I still incorporate some of those old flash heads in my shoots.
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