I don't know if I can say this but here goes: Those that think you need to sell the wife (good luck) and kids are from the old school. All you need is time. Take the time to LEARN how to build cheap and durable planes that you can make mistakes with. If you are going to buy and ARF buy only one. It is the second one after a crash that is expensive. The fist one bought you the radio gear, engine and most of the hardware to build the next durable plane.
The real economy comes when you build a gasoline bird all with the standard equipment that you salvaged from the ARF crash.
Box cardboard can get you there. Nothing else comes close.
Ace