Welcome to HC, Sparkie!
I was banned from owning hamsters and just like you, I turned to the internet to educate myself before ever stepping into the world of re-owning one. I did own one back in 2010 when I was 9, but got banned from them because they "stunk" (reason why I turned to YouTube to validate my point when I was older to explain my old hamster only stunk because we didn't clean her out enough.)
Just in 2 days time it will be 3 months since I have owned my male Syrian called Remy and I'm delighted to say I proved my family wrong!
Anyway, you were lucky to find out about HC before I did. I actually didn't know about HC until like 4 or 5 days after I got my little hammy, so I never had the full 1 to 1 opinions/ideas/tips I needed and only had all the years of going off independent google research and YouTube videos.
As a former college student who studied Animal Management for 2 - 3 years, (I am 20, here in the UK we start college at usually 16 or don't attend education if we don't intend to go to college and wait until Uni) I was always prepared for the ins and outs of owning hamsters so that also helped me out too.
As stated by Ria P, it will save you a LOT of money! I actually ran into a wheel mishap where I brought an entirely bad wheel that ended up clashing on the bars after a few weeks and I've just had to pay out for another wheel which comes tomorrow. I have hardly slept for like 4/5 days now. But apparently it's a good one and popular, not the best on the market but up there! It's the TRIXIE Wooden Wheel! I have a few people on here to thank for that.
People on here are amazing and just a life saver!
I can also thank this community big time for letting my hamster have the life he really deserves compared to my first hamster, I feel so guilty about how she lived now I know all that I know!