How many watts of light do i need for .......

about 2-3 plants and what type?

I suggest looking around this site at everyone else's setup. Look to see how many plants they have and what type of lights they are using. That will give you an excellent idea.

For vegging you want 27 watt @ 6500k and for flowering you will want 27 watt @ 2700k? I think those are the red spectrum bulbs.

If you really want good growth use at least a 400 watt MH bulb for veg and a 400 watt hps for flower.

just get 2 flos to start your plants off, for the 1st 3 to 4 weeks.
in that time get a 250 hps and set it up in a closet.
a 250watt should be ok for 2 to 4 plants.

is there just one kind of light thats all around and works for the veg and flowering stage

Yea, but why not buy what the plant really loves? If you go to pick up your cfl's at the store, they will have them all right there.

so i want cfls for veg then what do i need a hps or hid for flowering or does cfls work for that too?

Yea man, like I said in the first post. They have cfl's for vegging and ones for flowering.

The ones for vegging will probably say daylight on them. The ones for flowering, I'm not sure what they have on them. I just think the rating on them is 2700k. I don't use cfl's so I'm not to sure. Maybe someone else can answer that.

HPS is an HID. HID is a group of lights. It means High-Intensity Discharge.