An idea worth considering is very simply trying out a set of hearing aids (take them for a spin, so to speak) to see what might be worth your while. Bernafon and Unitron have particularly handy solutions for this. Try out a set of the “lowest tier” hearing aids with a Hearing Instrument Practitioner in your area. If you don’t have one, call up Bernafon and Unitron to see if they can get you started.
The Bernafon process (BeFlex) lets you try out more than one price-point at the press of a button. See https://youtu.be/405GrnGz1MA. The Unitron (Flex:Trial) approach is to try out (for example) the lowest level and then to upgrade as budget allows. As for some of the cheap approaches out there though, folks often say “I wish I had my 20 bucks back.” While you are trying things, see how far a Pocket Talker 2 or a Sennheiser A200 gets you. It’s all worth a try.
Now if you have an iPhone this also could be worth trying out: Fennex