2-4 hours a month is all I can budget for unfortunately, "nothing in aviation is cheap" I was told when visiting Cumbernauld asking about flying lessons.
I did my solo after 15 hours, I've done 25 hours now but 6 of them were from last weeks trip to Leeds and back which was fantastic in terms of learning. The plane needed its 50 hour maintenance so they agreed to me flying it down and back for the price of two lessons. Border Air is a very good school!!
I use a David Clark headset and it is indeed very comfortable and I like the wee logo for posing value!
I spend the time when I can't afford to fly reading the books and getting ready for another exam. I also fly Microsoft flight sim on the PC which is a good tool to run through checklists with and keeps the frustration of not flying for real at bay. Another book I recommend would be Pooley's PPL Question and answers with 4 past papers for each exam but also more crucially the answers come with explanations to why that response is the correct one, again without that and the air law DVD I would have struggled to pass as I found myself rereading the same page of the law book over and over again without taking anything in. My instructor told me studying airlaw was like eating sand which I thought very apt. The book was published 2012 so bang up to date but of course in September we change to different European exams so it will no longer be so up to date.