PilotPieces,
Your way of thinking sounds fairly similar to mine. I have a full time job, and I am slowly building up hours on my PPL. I aim to challenge myself in each flight and avoid circuit bashing in order to advance my experience.
So not only am I slowly creeping the hours up, but I can also save a fair amount of money each month to put into the pot.
I don't intend to start ATPL groundschool until I have close to the 150, people may think this is a bad idea as you will not be as current for starting the CPL but I think it is a method best suited to these times.
......... Perhaps the Tortoise will win the race, maybe.