anonymoose

Idle is rough a fair amount of the time, also when engaging first gear and reverse(unless on a slight decline) clutch grabs and attempts to launch but has allot of trouble moving the tires. Rpms drop down, most of the time stalling out. When it is driving the car shifts fine although sometimes when I am going uphill or am just getting on it the rpms will go up slower like im losing power. I am not very mechanically inclined and I wanted opinions and suggestions before spending any serious money.

sanchius

Code readers are REALLY cheap and may point you in the right direction.
Cats clogged? Advanced Search here is your friend.

In any case, this is an excellent opportunity to start becoming mechanically inclined.
As you point out, the alternative is to begin spending serious money.

When things go well, you usually only have to do one or the other of the two.
When things go bad, you find yourself doing both.

grillage

Start here...
http://12v.org/maintenance/dtc.php