Hang out on ebay and get the real thing. The 2500 can go arround $60 to $100. You can get three of these and you are in business. There is a big difference between the real thing and a simulator.
I work with a simulator for about six months and I did the commands over and over, until they were burnt in my head and when I got to a real router, I didn't know how to console in, or which cables to use.
Also you will be able to do most of the labs in the cisco press books, were as the simulator only allow you to use a limited number of commands.