Robert --
I used to be a type collector, and in some ways I still am. See my type checklist from 1980 that I posted last week:
http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=239160
Even back then, as a kid, I didn't consider type collecting and set collecting to be mutually exclusive. I collected the Topps set from packs every year from 1977 through 1981 (and then Fleer and Donruss in 1981 as well), but I also wanted to try to get examples of as many different sets from the past as I could, because I thought it was cool to have these little pieces of the history of the game, and I liked old stuff anyway. It started in 1976 when I sent $2.95 plus a quarter for postage to Hobby Card House for one card from each Topps baseball set from 1952 through 1975. I thought those old cards were so cool, but on my very limited budget there was no question of collecting the entire sets, so I sort of became a type collector by default.
When I got back into the hobby in the 1990s, I had a bit more money, but still not a lot by any means. I was able to fill in a lot of holes in my type collection, including the more common T and E cards and some of the tougher T206 backs, which at the time didn't sell for much of a premium, even though they were hard to find. Once I had examples of a lot of sets, I figured out which ones I liked the best, and I kept picking up more cards from those sets if I happened to see them at decent prices. I quickly gravitated toward Old Judges and T cards, especially T210s, T212s, T205s, and T206s (especially tougher backs when I chanced upon them). I still collect all of those in an opportunistic way, adding more if I see them at a good price and they have decent eye appeal. The only one of those where I'm anywhere near collecting the set is T206 (I need about 70), but I don't really care if I never finish that. I just like having the cards and being able to look at them and see how the game has changed over the years. It sounds like you're a lot like me in your collecting, and like others, I would encourage you to collect in whatever way makes you happiest. That's what this is all about, isn't it?