Reddit reviews Set of Assorted 1" Pawns, Set Of 24
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These standard pawns are measured at 1"These pawns can be used for sorting activitiesComes as a set of 24
Colored pawns (Amazon link).
I'd have everyone pick out a proper mini for their character, and then go to Amazon and pick up a pack of 25-50 "Game Pawns" of various colors to use as enemies until you can invest more in monster minis.
These are a great example
Edit: WTF why would anyone downvote this?
Combine with blank cards, your own blank folding game board, some neutral pawns, and/or a set with pawns, tokens, timers, and more, and you're set!
Need inspiration? Do a Little. Reading.
I went with old miniatures from other collectible mini games. My local shop had a huge box of them selling for $0.10 each. Yeah many are sci-fi'ish and don't look at all like D&D but they work. I also bought pawns online for about $0.10 each for other minions etc.
I did buy a gaming mat, but I got lucky and at the time piazo.com had "reject" mats for cheap. I don't see any for sale their now but the mats I got are fine. One had a slight smudge on a couple of the lines and the other was just cut a tiny bit off center. I got the mats for $6 each.
I use small colored rubber bands usually used for tying up hair/dreadlocks for markers: http://www.amazon.com/Orthodontic-Elastics-Rubber-Grooming-Dreadlocks/dp/B0047VDD4I/ref=pd_sim_bt_4
Check out Printable Heroes (by the eponymous /u/PrintableHeroes) that does standees that you can print out and use. They haven't done a lot of giants but if you back them on patreon you can get recolor-able ones to increase your options. Also there are just tons more printable standees over at a site called One Monk that aggregates the submissions of a whole community that makes these things.
For quick generic combatants I also use colored pawns -- the type you can get for cheap at any game store that normally serve as replacements for board game pieces.
So, as someone who is relatively new to DMing (started just over a year ago), here's what I'd suggest to make sure you keep your cost down, while still having figures you can slowly replace over time:
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Starting off, you can get a lot of generic "green-army-men" style fantasy figures for relatively cheap.
They're not very expensive and what they lack in quality they make up for with quantity.
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The next best solution I have for cheap decent figures is for animals. I've been able to find tubes or tubs of a decent selection of cheap, pre-painted figures at just about every Walgreen's or CVS Pharmacy I've been to. I use these guys for animal encounters, pet companions, and they're especially helpful for my druid.
If you can't find them at your local drugstore IRL, there's plenty of selections you can find online.
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Now, players understand you can't afford unique figures for every encounter. However, I've noticed that the figures you have stand in for whatever they're fighting can sometimes be distracting, or if you have multiple identical figures it can be confusing knowing which one they're targeting in a battle. A great, cheap solution I've found to this is just using multi-colored generic pawn pieces like from the game "Sorry!". The pieces themselves are so nondescript (other than color) that the players have an easier time projecting the combatant you describe onto them, and the various colors make it easier to track what's going on in a battle, both for the players and DM.
If you can't just salvage an old Sorry game you find lying around you can find packs of the pieces or other generic multi-colored pawns online for very cheap.
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This last suggestion isn't really about where to find cheap figures, but more to address the reason you said you wanted figures in the first place, to "help the immersion".
You may have heard of the website HeroForge before and it's a great tool for D&D players. It allows you to make very customizable figures for your games. Now, the cost of their cheapest figures are still over $30 for a single figure, so definitely not cheap. However, as a DM, I still regularly use it. I use HeroForge to help design notable NPC's or enemies for my campaign, then save the screenshot of them and post the image in our group chat when the character gets introduced. This is very helpful for a lot of reasons: I get a more solid idea of characters that I was designing in my head, it gives the players a visual and helps with the immersion, and when I DO decide to actually order a character (like, for example, a villain or NPC I know will be reoccurring for many sessions) it becomes a MUCH bigger deal and way more intense.
I also always recommend that PC's at the very least design their figures on HeroForge for the same reasons.
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I hope these were helpful. I'm still in the process of building my figure collection as well and love to share cool tips or resources I have found while doing so.
D&D Basics (Getting started)
The Absolute Basics
First you will want to grab either the Basic rules (Free), the Starter Set (Cheap), or the Players handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Probably Monster Manual
Then you need to have at least a few items
The starter set is nice because it does a bunch of the work for you, it has an easy to follow adventure, pre-made characters, Dice, and rules for the DM and players. And at half the cost of just the players handbook AND including an adventure, it is an incredible value.
Once you finish that then looking at at least a players handbook for the extra races, classes, backgrounds, and other things is a good deal. That should let you run free adventures people have put online.
The DM's guide will let you get deeper into rules and the right way to call them, break them, and make them.
The monster manual can be a great tool to make better encounters.
If you want to run a commercial adventure after the one's included in the starter set, "Tales from the Yawning Portal" includes the Sunless Citidel, considered by many to be an excellent adventure for those new to the game and just recently brought up from 3.5e into 5e
Common Tools of the Trade
As you start running more complex adventures you are going to want to have a few tools to keep things moving, either as a player or as a DM.
As a Player
The bare essentials every players should have are listed above, but most players agree having a few extras can make the game run really quick.
Spell Cards
These cards have all the spells available for specific classes or from specific books on really well organized cards that make it easy to set aside your prepared spells and quickly reference all the core details.
Cleric, Arcane, Ranger, Druid, Bard, Paladin, Martial Powers and Races, Xanathars Guide to Everything
Binders & Sheet Protectors
Keeping everything neat and organized can be a huge time saver and make it much easier for you to find what you need. Binders can be a great way to keep your notes and other materials organized. In addition many sheet protectors easily erase dry erase markers making it easy to keep track of spells and other changes without ruining character sheets with constant erasing.
As a DM
DMs have their work cut out for them. But a few simple tools can make the game run smooth and leave everyone having that much more fun.
Index Cards
A set of index cards can go a long way to speeding up the game. Players can put details on spells or magic items on them. You can prepare loot for the game ahead of time and hand it out allowing players to look over the gear as the game continues. You can also use them to hide portions of a battle map or commerical map to give the effect of fog of war.
Game Mats
A game mat let's you make single maps by drawing on them with dry erase or wet erase markers. Many are made of vinyl and can last a long time. Normally they will have either 1" squares or hex shapes.
Minitures
These things can be expensive, but giving your game that 3D upgrade and helping players better manage space in a game can be well worth it. You can use actual miniatures (Like those from Reaper), Create custom ones on Hero's Forge, or even just buy some cheap stand in tokens from Game Mash.
If you just need a cheap way to keep track of positions army men, bottle caps, colored game pieces, and even legos can all play the role.
No matter what you use, you can pick up colored rubber bands to mark status conditions or other information.
Where Can I Play?
You can find tons of places to play D&D.
Also:
Critical Role - Voice actors playing DnD, Matt Mercer (The DM) is an amazing Dungeon Master and shows how the game should be played.
Matthew Colville - Amazing videos on being a DM, must watch material for every DM. Even when your opinions differ he gives good reasons and great advice.
Compendiums
These let you ciew all the free open rules (SRD & Basic Rules) for D&D 5e at no cost.
Roll20 Compendium - Has all the open rules for the game, so a good source for monsters, items, spells, etc.
DnDBeyond - A more official source for the content, plus you can buy all the materials released by WotC to use, and has a great character builder.
Adventures & Maps
DMsGuild - Tons of free and paid adventures and other materials. The quality can be varying, but many are free and that can be great.
/r/dndmaps/ - What more can they say, D&D Maps.
Mike Schley Makes many of the maps for the D&D Adventures.