What is needed to get started with flight simulation

I was recently asked what you would need to get started in flight simulation. There are a number of good articles out there that provide lots of insight. I figured I would lay out what I use and about what it cost.

Flight Simulator X (Steam Edition) 

This is the base simulator package.  You need to install Steam (free) and then purchase and download the simulator from there.  This is an old program but it still works.  It costs about $30.

Reality XP GNS 430W

This is the Garmin 430 simulator.  It needs to be downloaded from the provider and installed.  It costs about $46.

Logitek G Saitek PRO Flight Yoke System

This provides a yoke, throttle, prop, and mixture controls.  I found one for sale on Amazon for about $450.  You pretty much need to have something like this in order to get a reasonable experience.

there are many other peripherals.  You will need a pretty good computer to run the program but, since FSX is quite old, any modern computer should be able to do the job.