I wouldn't go cheap on shorts if I were you, I would find really nice shorts but find them on closeout sales toward the end of the year. The shorts need to have really nice chamois and good stitched multi paneling construction and you can't get that with low end shorts. I actually prefer MTB shorts when I ride my road bike because I don't like to have my junk bulging out in public, if you're single that may be an advantage though! LOL!! Some people prefer bibs too, I don't like them but that's just me.
Jerseys is one place however you can go cheap because there is no difference between $120 jerseys vs $15 ones other than the cheaper jerseys don't have rear pockets unless you find a nice jersey on closeout for that price range. Comfort in heat with a low price vs a high price jersey is the same, I know because I use to live in the Mojave Desert of California and used both price ranges of jerseys and never found one better than the other, in fact the lower price ones fit more loosely and are actually COOLER than the more expensive tight fitting ones because the air is allowed to circulate under the jersey, of course if your racing you may want a tight fitting jersey due to the aerodynamics issue. Why is this the case? because all jerseys are made of 100% polyester whether cheap or expensive. The coolest most comfortable jersey I ever found was this: http://www.soffe.com/football-jersey-tee.html It fits loose, there is no rear pocket, which I never use anyways, and the holes in it allow air to rush through keeping me unbelieveably cool compared to any jersey I have ever worn even in temps exceeding 100 degrees, even now where I live in a more humid climate it is still much cooler than any jersey I own including a $120 polyester or my wool jerseys that I own, and white is the coolest color due too.
Shoes is another area you don't want to go cheap, but you also don't need to go expensive either, a good medium price shoe works really nice. Shimano makes a lot of nice medium price shoes under $175 to the $120 dollar range. The Mavic Avenge is a nice shoe that can be found for under $125, as is the Shimano R220 and SH-R088 and SH-R078, SH-R106L the Northwave Vertigo Pro SBS, even the low end (sub $100) Scattante Scalino sold by Performance has gotten rave reviews. Again, just like anything, look for either closeouts or sales. A lot of LBS's won't let you bring back a pair of shoes once you wore them, but most online stores will like Performance and Nashbar will! so much for customer service at LBS's. Also you can custom tune any shoe with Specialized BG footbeds depending on your arches in your feet, and they have shims if you want to get more technical that allow you to adjust the forefoot angle to optimize the foot/knee/hip alignment but that takes a pro fitting to get that right and that alone can cost you $250 range. As you can see you can go crazy with shoes if a person wanted to.
Gloves, same thing, you don't need to go real expensive, but a good medium price glove is usually fine, the only thing you have to worry about in regards to gloves is if you like thin or thick padding, gel or foam, I like the Specialized Body Geometry Gel but that's just me you may not like them.