Again, for the grinder you can, but don’t need to get poor. You should omit blenders that just cut the beans randomly down, but as soon as you get one with a proper grinder it’ll be fine.
I know what you’re saying, as I was following /r/coffee for q long time I’m doing it with my described setup for about 250€ total. And I am totally satisfied with my 2-3 espresso and espresso derivatives a day.
When going out even in high priced restaurants and coffee bars the espresso I get are mostly just en par. I get a wow effect elsewhere, but only rarely.