And here are some very well written free courses designed just for relative beginners such as yourself. Hope you enjoy them and welcome to the Game!
http://www.chess.com/blog/webmaster/free-chess-mentor-courses
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The best idea is to just go out and play some games. Try the daily puzzle everyday and do some tactics each day. Just a couple, not too many. There are also things like chess mentor that you can do and finally, vote chess is always cool.
I don't know how representative it is of normal beginners, but I see a lot of binging over certain subjects. My advice to get better is to study a subject intensely, sure, but the overall goal to be well rounded. Learn each area up to a beginner level, then repeat up to a few 100 more rating points, each area in succession.
Even if you're aim is not to be a master, and you don't want to repeat this process for years and years, I think it's fun and useful to study each area at least a bit when you're beginning... and even if that sounds boring to you, hopefully (if you chose to read this) this will give you an idea of what's out there.
A brief survey of topics: Openings, strategy, endgame, tactics, annotated games.
And calculation / visualization are important tools used during the game.
So to get a beginner started I'd hit each area like this:
Opening: Memorize 2-5 moves (the move pair 1.e4 e5 is 1 move by the way) of a few openings. I'd choose an opening that puts a pawn in the center both because these tend to follow classical principals (which are useful nearly throughout the game) and because they'll be the openings you'll most often see from your opponents.
As few as 2 moves are enough because at this stage opening principals are what really matter a lot. These are boiled down to: 1. claim some central space with a pawn move, 2. Efficiently moving your knights and bishops off the back rank and ideally to a square where they influence the center, 3.Castle your king to safety. Safety usually means to a side where the 3 pawns extending from the edge of the board have not yet moved (sometimes called the pawn shield).
After this you finish development by moving you queen (usually only a few squares away from her home). When development is over, you can definitely start thinking in terms of middlegame operations (sometimes before that, but it carries certain risks).
Anyway, then after each game look to see who left opening "book" first and make a mental note. You don't need to memorize 10 moves all at once, just slowly build as you go. I've heard to stick with an opening at least one year.
(You can buy software and or memberships, but here's a free site that gives the first few moves http://www.365chess.com/opening.php combined with wiki and forums you don't need to spend anything)
Strategy: I really like Seirawan's Winning Chess series. There is a book on strategy.
The uninitiated tend to think that chess players hatch grand schemes that they meticulously execute over the course of a game. This is only half true. Both in the sense that only few players are this good (professional players), and that this is not even possible in some positions (where very short plans are more appropriate).
As a beginner it's not so much grand schemes, but identifying key strengths and weaknesses. Some of the most important of these are pawns. So even if you don't want to spend money, I'd suggest looking up the following types of pawns as a start: backward, isolated, doubled, chain, passed, island, base, majority, minority.
Also note that opening principals are used throughout the game e.g. the importance of trying to use all your non-pawns, keeping your king safe, and having some claim in the center.
Endgames. In the beginning you need to know how to checkmate with a king and queen vs a lone king. Also with a king and rook vs a lone rook. A few positions which are King + pawn vs king are necessary along with their ideas such as opposition. Also why / how a pawn majority is useful in an endgame. These can be googled fairly easily. If you want a book again I'd recommend one out of Seirawan's series, his endgame book :p
Tactics are short forcing sequences that win material or checkmate. They are usually the biggest factor that decides games among lower rated players. Solving tactical puzzles have the dual benefit of exercising your calculation and visualization abilities while making you more familiar with the most common patterns used to win pieces and checkmate.
There are many free tactical resources online, just google them. Solving a few tactical puzzles each day is a staple for most improving players of every level, and the most often given advice you'll find. As for a book, yes, Seirawan has one for tactics too heh.
Annotated games are games with comments on key moves by the author or player(s). They can be very useful in giving you a stronger player's insight. Yes Seirawan has one here too (the one titled Brilliancies) but there are also books that take the approach of giving some explanation for every move, such as Chernev's "Logical Chess Move by Move."
I'll throw this bit of advice in here. After thinking over one of your games, it's useful to have a better player analyze it for you. These forums are a good free source for this (the analysis forum). Here, or anywhere (e.g. if you get a coach) it's best to provide games where you really felt clueless at some point, not games where you want to show off a nice win. Generally this means games where you lost, and there was a struggle (usually games longer than 20 moves).
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Along with "study tactics" and look for undefended pieces I think the most useful and concise advice involves a certain habit author Dan Heisman often talks about (he also has some good books for new players worth considering). Basically after each move (yours and your opponent's) look at which squares were directly affected. Some squares will be newly attacked, and some squares will now be undefended or less defended. Doing this for every move will help you avoid gross oversights and catch your opponent's gross oversights... this is not an easy habit to form so that you do it before each of your moves, and after each of your opponent's, but it gets easier with time and pays big dividends in your results.
Anyway, good luck and have fun 
You've got a one-track mind BG.
Oh, and yes, of course play lol
Playing is more important than studying at first. After all, chess is a performance game. The person with the most book knowledge doesn't determine the winner.
I just wanted to give the OP some ideas of what's out there.
When I began I had nothing and no one. All I did was play... which was not bad, but it also would have been nice to know a few things!
Mar 16, 2015
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#10
leiph18 wrote:
When I began I had nothing and no one. All I did was play...
Me too.
I noticed the OP has no games here. He may play somewhere else. But the whole game is pointless if you don't play somewhere.
Isn't that sorta how Bobby Fischer started out? playing against himself?
I've tried it a couple of times but I couldn't handle the strangeness of it all.
@ BG
One of the wonderful things about a forum is the scattershot of answers you can get. My long post may be useless to him, but at least it's there.
"Play"
Is also a very good answer, and if he only does 1 thing, I hope he takes your advice :)
Who can ignore a red head in a tight leather outfit?
@leiph18
I've read your while post. It's very informative! But don't you think that the OP would get bored reading halfway or even quarterway through?!
Hi I have only been playing a few months so any advice welcome or any want to add me so I can improve by playing some games would be appreciated