As far as packs, I carry about the same base weight as you. I've tried frameless (Granite Gear Virga) and minimally-framed ultralight (Osprey Exos and Talon) packs. They work, but not as comfortably as I liked - and extra food or water quickly put my total loads above the maximum weights they could handle. So, I decided to try to stay in that 3-4 pound range, with good suspensions.

Never apologize for budget limitations. I'm fortunate; I have a decent job, my kids are grown and gone, the mortgage is paid, and my wife and I don't have other vices (like smoking, drinking, or owning a boat or second home), so our vices are sewing and quilting (her, not me) and backpacking (me, not her.) Accordingly, I get to invest more in my gear to save those few extra ounces; it's my hobby. When I was younger, I also had to fit gear into a budget. That's how I know that you can't address going light only by throwing money at it. The first steps are what you did: fix your technique. Then, with what's left, you can make the necessary trade-offs between weight and cost, and then tweak things over time. It sounds like you're taking exactly the right approach (it has to be the right approach, since it's the same as mine, right? )