new to path of exile and completely overwhelmed

Which one are you playing, PoE 1 or 2? Advice is quite different between them now. For 1: don't spend your orbs trying to craft early. Chaos orbs and the like are the trade currency, and you'll want them later to buy gear.

follow a guide for your first character, honestly. you learn the tree way faster by reading why a guide takes a node than by guessing, and a broken build in maps is a miserable way to learn. pick a starter build for witch (there are plenty of beginner minion ones) and fix your tree now while it's cheap. also get a loot filter on day one. neversink's is the one most people use. without it the ground is unreadable.