I studied chinese for 3 years, my advice is to learn the 5 tones and their rules (there's not many), it makes speaking a lot easier. Listen to a lot of stuff, look up words, you don't really need to spend money on anything. All you pretty much need is youtube, a few movies and you'll be set, and stuff YOU like. Make sure you save words using a program or something. I recommend the Iphone/Ipod app ChineseFlash
http://www.chineseflashapp.com/ I think it cost something but it's really all i've really paid for in my language learning.
Once you get the feel for it , and your ready to speak, head on over to
http://www.sharedtalk.com there's TONS of chinese speakers their you can voice chat to, and its free.
I currently use jflash for japanese because I save the words I hear, then read them with several provided sentences the program gives.
I listened my ass off to japanese for the past 6 months straight hardcore, and only now do I feel like I can catch the 'flow' of conversation, and it doesn't sound fast anymore.