No hard feelings.
The Mother 32 and the 0-Coast are popular. A synth voice sounds right for you. Basically, a complete synth that's stand-alone (own power supply) or a Eurorack synth voice that only needs to be dropped in a case and powered to get a full sound from.
The Intellijel Atlantis, Dreadbox series, etc. are good examples. You can search in modules by type and select "synth voice." Be sure to research... especially using Youtube. There might be something that's more your style than M32 or 0-C. Most synth voices have normalized patching so you don't have to patch to make a sound. Of course things get interesting when you have access to a multitude of patch points.
If you're going one 3U, then yes... still go big. If you can accommodate 4U, the Intellijel 4U series gives you up to 104HP in full sized modules and the 1U of 104HP for any specialty modules that you would like. The cost is approximately $350 for that case.
Use your synth voice for a while and then you can carefully curate additional modules to go with it. The VCV Rack allows you to experiment with many, many different types of modules... so you can figure out what really stimulates your creativity and decide how you'd like to expand your limited space/budget.
I find a lot of DivKid videos very useful in module exploration... even self-patching. In my experience, you can plan your heart out but eventually you have to just buy something and hope for the best. But it's a journey. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.