One other thought to play devil's advocate - if you are certain about doing your PPL, and certain you want to own an aircraft yourself, you could go out and buy something like a 152 now (always ensuring it is on public cat.), learn to fly in it (it will be cheaper to hire an instructor for your own aircraft) and spend a year or two having some fun with it. By then you may have enough experience / desire to move on to something different amd maybe have not lost anything on your "investment". The other good thing I have seen some people do is rent the aircraft out to their flying club whilst they are learning - clubs are often short of aircraft during the summer months.