It all boils down to where are you going to house this Arduino devices. This way you can plan ahead of time how are you going to arrange your setup...
Here is my TEST setup I have using breadboard. Just to make sure everything is working before i solder things up.... Actually you can keep using this way so that any time you want to change something, its going to be easy.
Its kinda messy, but thats ok... we are just playing with arduino sketch right now...
I FORGOT TO MENTION... (I cant edit my old posts... sorry...)
You need to buy a...
1)
Breadboard - price
here, picture
here and
here... maybe Radio shack or Frys Electornics. Tutorial on how to use it
here.
2)
Male/Female wire jumpers - At least 10 pcs... buy extra if you can... Price
here and
here or equivalent... maybe Radio shack or Frys Electornics
3)
GA 20 or 22 Wire (solid) - not stranded. You can also use this as breadboard (male) jumper wires. You just need to solder these to your LCD Shield pins/legs... If you do it this way, then you dont need to buy the female jumpers (above) Price
here
Not really that much money to add, just a few here and there. If you are good with electronics, then you can get away without using breadboard and use
this one instead. Because after I finalized everything I ended up using that board for my final project. But for those beginners like me, breadboard is a must... Actually, you can just keep everything in there. You just need a bigger box/case for your project.
I apologize for being slow... really busy right now with life.... will try harder.... patience...