Chic, Do you have a TV and DVD or VHS player in the room? I'm a big fan of workout DVD's!
Your bar alone probably weighs at least 30-40 lbs without adding the plates {round donut weights}, I would start with it alone before you added weights. We have two non-olympic barbell sets and just the bars alone weight 13-15lbs. {we don't have a bench
} You can also hold just the plates for exercises in place of dumbbells for things like bicep curls, kickbacks, and squats.
This is another good site for exercises and in some cases this one shows videos of how to do the workouts correctly.
http://www.exrx.net/index.html
If I can help you further I'd be happy to. Do you do weightwork now or are you trying to start?