I made it to Corona but like a moron uplifted fuel at El Monte just before I left for over $6.40/gal! I need to pay more attention. In fact, I have no excuse as on my little Foreflight app it gives you the low and high fuel prices at various fields.
I also thought that I'd, in the benefit of full disclosure, would share the costs of owning so far. All these numbers are really hard to get by when you're looking to buy for some reason - it's as if people are cagey and keep that info to themselves. Maybe they're afraid of being labelled as rich bastards that can afford such a frivolous hobby, or something. If I can dispel that in any way, that will be my mission. I want every pilot to own an aircraft! I'm not rich, but I have a decent salary. If I can afford it, anyone with a normal to good job could. Granted, this might not be the case in Europe, where the cost of ownership is slightly higher, but still doable.
Her total bill for all the things that I wanted rectified: $11,864. That's not bad at all. On top of that I bought a new battery for $607 and spent $2200 on pre-buy inspection, $1500 on ferry flying and finally $2700 on instruction (and I got taken for a ride there - could have been done for $700). Plus the Avgas, which probably amounts to $3000 so far. She's in for her annual now and that will obviously add extra, but most of the squawks have already been addressed, so it's mainly a case of opening up all the inspection lids and making sure she's safe. I don't expect the annual to cost much more than $4-5000.
So to recap, the total so far (excluding the annual) has been: $21,871.
Of course it's a lot of money, but cheaper than a coke habit
And I know people who are into racing, motocross, go-carting, horses, vacations, boating etc who spend far more than that a year.