Newbie to Vinyl Seeks Tips

With some trepidation, and quite a bit of skepticism, I have decided to take the leap into vinyl.  The bulk of my listening to date has been streaming Qobuz over Roon to an Ares II DAC and a variety of amplifiers and the Tekton Moabs.  I have been very happy with that system.  Since I just want to tip my toe into the water, I am buying the Fluance RT85 turntable and Schiit Mani preamp.  I know nothing about vinyl and am not looking for tips on equipment at this point but do want input on some fundamentals like:

What is the best, and most cost effective way to clean records, both before each play and more like a deep cleaning?

Why are prices of records on Amazon so different?  Are they cheapest when first released and then fall in price or vice versa?

I know different pressings are supposed to have different qualities.  How do I figure out what to buy without becoming obsessed with that?  And if you don't buy from Amazon where do you buy records?

How bad an idea is it to pick through thrift stores looking for records?

In general, is there any cost effective way to build a collection of records?  I'm not somebody that listens to the same thing 20-30x so the  idea of paying $30-40 for a LP is irritating.

And finally, is this just a fools errand?  I have no intention of spending tons of money on turntables, tonearms, cartridges, phone pre's etc. etc..  I've built what I think is an amazing system out of carefully selected but affordable components.  Is such a thing even possible with vinyl?

What other pragmatic things should I know?

Thanks

Paul