Well I explored every close galaxy, because I don't know which ones are the best to visit, i figured nearest is as good as any, lost a lot of money replacing landers  which I understand is my fault, but I really don't feel like restarting and wasting my progress/time invested so far...
Also a fair amount went into parts for the ship like thrusters/turning jets.

I feel like a game shouldn't penalize you for not having extensive knowledge of the game mechanics and specific galaxies before you started =/ or at least if it does have a +money cheat hidden to help you make up for it.

I guess i'll try starting over and being a lot more conscious of what minerals i pick up and trying to minimize costs...

Sorry, I'm new to this game, and I've heard from a lot of people that this game is really fun, has a good story/quests etc, except I find the beginning so far to be tedious and off-putting...
I've drained basically every resource I can reach, and am about to quit because I seem to be making no progress and am about to no longer be able to afford fuel to fly to new systems
I really want to see the content and story of this game from all the recommendations i've heard about it, but the resource-gathering has just been annoying.

Am I doing something drastically wrong in the start? Or is there a way to just get free RUs like editing a file or something?
Like I said, I really want to play this game, but so far its just been kinda aggrivating.