You need 100hrs PIC for your CPL issue, you will come out of your PPL with around 10. That means you need to fly 90 hours not under instruction anyway.
With my hour building I tried not to treat it as flying for the sake of flying, I tried to learn something from every flight and set myself a goal on each flight. I am fortunate enough to have a family member who is an airline Captain so I tapped in to his knowledge to learn NDB/VOR tracking, and I tried some holds and ILS/NDB approaches etc. I wouldn't suggest trying to teach yourself holds/approaches etc., but you could do an IMC rating then go up with another PPL as an extra set of eyes and practice.
I also spent a little time every now and then practicing upper air work, slow/fast flight, stalling, steep turns etc. and PFLs - it all comes up again on your CPL. If the weather was challenging, and there was a nice sporting crosswind I'd spend 30 mins - 1hr in the circuit just tidying things up.
I took the aircraft across to Europe for 10 days, to experience flying in a different country, apart from being a hell of a lot of fun there is much to be learnt from flying in foreign airspace.
My advice - don't treat it as 100+ hours of wasted money, treat it as an opportunity to prepare yourself for whats ahead and learn; a hell of a lot can be done in 100hrs. Most of all enjoy it!
Last edited by packo1848; 28th Dec 2013 at 10:54.