Sacrifices you made to afford the time and money to fly?

N918KT

N918KT

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I'm just wondering what sacrifices you made to fly and do flight training if you are short on time and money? Anything you do to spend less money or time on, just to have more time and money to fly? Would you even live a bare-bones lifestyle just to afford the time and money to fly or do flight training?
 
I'm not sure you can call it a sacrifice, but I didn't have children. :rofl:

And I bought my BMW used.
 
Unlike AMF above, I took a job as a low-paying gigolo. Hard, long, exhausting work for very little pay... :rofl:
 
Switched to a less expensive grade of bourbon
 
Time away from the wife and kid, such a hard sacrifice. Haha
 
iflyvfr said:
The depths people will sink to in order to fly...:rolleyes:
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There's been many a night where the Dachshund and I reflect whether it's all worth it over Woodford Reserve and chili dogs..............
 
I know I'm supposed to open with a snatch of vapid repartee but it's just out of reach.

I put GA flying on hold for 18 years while I raised kids, set up a few companies, and put my efforts into family and business.
 
Sold a kidney, sold a chunk of liver 3 times, I also get a stipend for experimental brain implants. Oh, it all started off just innocently feeding sea lions...
 
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Switched all of my wife's diamonds out with cubic zirconia
 
Finished PPL and IFR before getting married.

Had only one child... (Not that I wanted more than one anyhow, but things are easier with only one)
 
Cheap housing, paid off cars, geographic domicile compatible with cheap and nearby access to GA airports (i.e. not big cities), also limited child bearing to one child. My exwife divorced me for holding these "spartan" choices. My new wife is much more compatible with these choices. Happy husband, solvent household. :D
 
hindsight2020 said:
Cheap housing, paid off cars, geographic domicile compatible with cheap and nearby access to GA airports (i.e. not big cities), also limited child bearing to one child. My exwife divorced me for holding these "spartan" choices. My new wife is much more compatible with these choices. Happy husband, solvent household. :D
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The bolded above, married later in life, skipped the divorce. Still managed to get 3 kids out. Oh... and my last new car I bought was in 1985 and just about pay cash for everything except the home mortgage.
 
Took a part time job at an FBO,ate a lot of ramen noodles. Also drank cheap bourbon. Put some money away before starting training.
 
Sold all of my race cars and equipment. Started with a large amount of money.
 
Got the least expensive instructor I could find (thank you craigslist)

Put the a handful of flights on a credit card near the end when I couldn't afford to have a lull in training (still not paid off *sigh*)

sold whatever I could sell (meth)

swapped Tanquerray for What ever that new haven siht is that is $6 a bottle and really after the 5th Gin and Tonic, it is hard to tell the difference.

Even now I can't afford to fly all that much so I find I get my fix by doing a lot of little flights rather than long flights. If I can fly little 1 hour flights once a week and do 2-3 long flights in a year, that is more satisfying than only doing 3-4 hour flights and only flying once every 2 months.

Flying is expensive and so is 2 kids.
Very difficult to have both.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Flying is expensive and so is 2 kids.
Very difficult to have both.
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Yeah, the reality is I never could have done this had I been fortunate to have kids. Regrets? You bet, but it wasn't in the cards for several reasons and none of it matters now anyway. Can't unwind a clock.
 
docmirror said:
I put GA flying on hold for 18 years
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This. Got my license (certificate, wtf ever) in 1992. Then really didn't fly much at all until 2013. Knew the whole time I wanted a plane, but couldn't afford to fly AND save money for the plane at the same time.

Got out of debt, got a whole bunch saved up, bought the plane, and now it's ... well, not exactly cheap to fly, but I'm not worried about putting gas in the tank or keeping it maintained.

(Working high tech and getting promotions didn't hurt either, but the idea of waiting until I could do it right still applies.)
 
kfvintx said:
Hookers and blow only twice a week now.
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aint life a b!tch sometimes?!?


SixPapaCharlie said:
...sold whatever I could sell (meth).......
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6PC-Heisenberg, was that your shtuff?!?!


I completely got rid of cable. I had DISH and was getting fed up and right when I started training I cancelled it thinking that would save me a lil money and also prevent me from watching too much TV instead of studying. I STILL don't have any cable, although I will before football starts, that's fo sho.
 
Put in 22 years in the Army so I could retire, get another job and have two incomes. Wife also works as school teacher. We have two daughters. One just graduated college in May. The other just left for her freshman year. Fortunately, first was a National Merit Scholar and got an academic full ride at Auburn. Second received several various scholarships which great reduces college expenses. Still expensive, but tolerable. Oh yeah, #1 just got a permanent job! She'll soon be completely off the payroll. :)
 
hindsight2020 said:
Cheap housing, paid off cars, geographic domicile compatible with cheap and nearby access to GA airports (i.e. not big cities),
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Same here. I even went so far as to ask about costs associated with owning and operating an airplane in cities where I had job offers. I took the one I liked best which also happened to have the cheapest cost of living and airplane ownership expenses.

Zeldman said:
Sold all of my race cars and equipment.
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That helped quite a bit too. Generally speaking, playing with airplanes is much cheaper than putting together a real race car, having all the support equipment, and driving to and entering events.
 
I live a frugal life and delayed getting my license until I could afford it. When I threw a party to celebrate getting promoted to Colonel in the Reserves and getting my pilots license, my boss asked why I decided to get a license. I said I always wanted one but now he was finally paying me enough. I was able to make all the payments without paying any interest.
What got me into ownership was getting a good deal when I sold my house to a developer and was able to pay cash for the plane.
 
Not much really.

It's not that bad if you're smart about it


I work a good schedule flying for work, and I get in some hours there, which pays for my VFR $100 burgers in my plane and my 5-600 annuals.
 
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Didn't buy a new car. Kept the old 1998 Honda Civic going ( only 214K miles)
 
I'll take something of a contrary view. To me the key is to get started early and get your toys BEFORE having a family

if you go into the marriage with an airplane then you will find a way to afford it. Just like you find a way to afford the kids when they come along.
 
Drove older cash cars, put off having children (possibly indefinitely). The only debt we have is our house, so I just trimmed all the fat I could out of our budget while I was training. Wife just graduated from college, so we are finally going to have two incomes. Hopefully there is a plane in my future, probably on the 10 year plan though.
 
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No kids, no TV, live in a no-tax, low cost-of-living state. Self-employed.
 
Brought up to pay cash for everything. If I didn't have the cash, I didn't need it. Went to state university instead of Harvey Mudd (only partial scholarship there). Advanced degrees paid for by employer. Paid cash for cars, paid off the house in 8 years (always buy well below what you can afford), cash for airplane.

Only way to function in today's economy - I'm usually an aerospace contractor, which has been really *&Y#@&(!! the past few years. Every time I get a contract, it's gone for one reason or another in 2-3 months.
 
Drive older paid off cars. Hate car payments anyway. Don't buy fancy things. Blows are free no hookers required. Limited flying budget to every other week for now.
 
Screw the Joneses.

I never lived in more house or drove more car than I needed. Even after I married.
 
N918KT said:
I'm just wondering what sacrifices you made to fly and do flight training if you are short on time and money? Anything you do to spend less money or time on, just to have more time and money to fly? Would you even live a bare-bones lifestyle just to afford the time and money to fly or do flight training?
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I have never had a surplus of either time or money. But, I always have enough to do anything I want.
Funny how one can make it work out that way...
 
1. Married a frugal woman. Not sure it's a sacrifice, but it's the biggest factor!

2. Started a business from scratch. For several years, every single night and weekend was spent working the business in addition to my regular long-hour, high-stress job. Huge sacrifice of time.

3. Followed Dave Ramsey's money advice. Paid off credit cards, only took modest vacations, paid cash for used cars, budgeted like crazy, which eventually led to ...

4. Paid off our mortgage!

Now that we have no bills, a strong income and crazy-good budget discipline, paying for flight training is a piece of cake. We'll have no trouble buying and operating a plane now, but it took years and years of sacrifice to get to this point.
 
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