Thinking of buying it and I know some on here use it. After I recovered seeing the price I looked at the cheaper options
and wondered which was most suitable for personal use and is it possible to buy the cheapest option and add to it at a later date?
Depending on what you want to do, Paint.Net will probably do.
You can’t pay for it and you can find it here
http://www.getpaint.net/
Regards,
Nick
If you would consider an alternative to Photoshop then these freeware programs are worth a look.
Though I have to say I’m a little surprised that Irfanview never even got a mention in that list 
You can get away with Photoshop elements for most thing’s and is a lot cheaper then the full package, another good one is Serif photoplus…