Getting Your Start in Digital Animation

So you want to learn to animate - but you don't want to go to school for reasons that could range from time to money to simply just wanting to learn as a fun hobby. But you aren't quite sure where to start, if you should just dive in or even what kind of animation you want to do. It's not that hard to learn to animate from home, and it's not even that expensive; it just requires time, patience, and an idea of your goals. Oh...and a few pointers in the right direction might not hurt too much, either.