Your list of class landmarks will include at least three good stores for freebie or very cheap (sometimes called "dollarbie") items. I began my second life in the Enkythings freebie store (my favorites are now Sarah Nerd and Milky 9). In any case, it is possible, given the strong open-source and creative-commons communties in SL, to get a lot of very nice free items.
That said, freebies from random strangers may contain malicious code. Of course, in a fake world like SL, we all take chances. I have accepted free items from people to whom I've spoken only a few sentences.
The choice is yours. You can feel assured, however, that what you find in a freebie store will not harm your avatar's inventory or abilities. Even a nearly newborn Pappy Enoch, shown here, found himself a first hat at Enkythings' dollar store (and they give away a few free Linden Dollars as you wander, to make it easier to buy things).
Scavenger Hunt Bonus: 50L to the first student to post to our Koinup group a snapshot in a freebie or dollarbie store and notify me.