My instructor says don't think about using a sim untill doing nav. You need to get used to the feel of flying the plane and all a low cost sim will do is confuse you once you really are flying.
Better to just think your way through it - maybe see if you can get time sitting in the plane when on the ground and practice going through checks or sit in a chair and go through the motions but as I say - a sim won't help.
Once you've mastered the feel then a sim might be useful for instrument flying or nav - but you are still a long way from that.