If I was young and starting out again this is how I would do it.
1. Go to uni and get a degree in a relevant profession.
2. Get a decent job that has excellent earnings potential. Preferably with the ability to contract at a later date so you won't necessarily be tied into working for one company and can take extended leave.
3. Do a PPL. Take some holidays from work and do some hour building to consolidate what you have learnt.
4. Join a no capital group and get as much flying under your belt as you can. go to your preferred school for the ME, CPL and IR and sit down with one of their instructors. Get a copy of the syllabus off them for these courses. Ask them what are the main things that trip people up when they undertake the professional courses. Whilst your chipping away on your weekend flying take those points on board and hone your skills. It will save you bucket loads of cash when the time comes to do the advanced training.
5. Do an IMC rating if you fancy it to keep you flying during winter and also help a bit towards the IR.
5. Study the ATPL ground school distance learning through someone like BGS. Sign up to the online database and work hard. If you spend enough time on then database then you can't fail.
6. Now its time to spend some money. Consider your timing. How is the market going? How is your career going? Can you get time off from work? What is the weather like? Is my preferred school available to take me on the dates I am available? A lot of people don't realise that the better schools have waiting lists for courses. The crap schools don't. That should start ringing alarm bells. Head off and do the CPL, fulltime ideally.
7. How is your cash? If its okay and you can get time off work then you might keep on trucking and head into the IR. Remember once you have the IR its another rating that you will have to keep current. Otherwise back to work and earn some more money. If you really can't face work anymore then consider an instructor rating. BUT ask yourself if there any jobs available? Where are they? Whats the pay? How many hours will I get? Is it likely to get me a job in the end?
8. So if you went back to work then you need to keep your ear to the ground. How is the market doing? Do they need pilots now? If its looking rosy then get the IR out of the way. If not keep on working, keep on flying and keep on networking at your local flying club. The latter is a great source of contacts for that first job and shouldn't be overlooked.
At the end of the day its all about timing and being in the right place at the right time. Working and going modular makes a hell of a lot of sense in the current climate and at worst you will be sitting in a nice 9 to 5 job earning a wage whilst your mates are being chased by bailiffs and never did finish that last rating so are unemployable.
Good luck.