Controlling the Costs of RC Flying

I've just placed an order for a couple of hundred dollars on a vendors site, and it occurs to me that it worth talking about how to control the costs of RC Flying. After all, while all of us have a pretty strong emotional attachment to the hobby, meaning we don't always make particularly sane purchases, I'm sure we all recognise that a lower cost per model means less aggravation with the finances, or maybe even more models 8-).

Here are some things I do:

1. Favour models in the 300-600 gram (11-22 ounces) range. I know I can get a good brushless setup for such a model for around $45 AUD including motor and speedie. There are a ton of cheap brushless motors and speedies provided you don't want any more than about 170 watts, which will fly a 400g speedster, or a 600g trainer very well. If you step up to around 200 watts suddenly the combined price comes up to around $80-120AUD. In addition, 300-600gram planes all tend to use standard micro servers (7-9grams) allowing another saving by using cheap servos if appropriate. Finally, lighter planes tend to have less serious accidents. Although airframes are often ruined and LiPos and motors sometimes damaged/destroyed normally these components survive in lighter planes.
   
2. Before I buy a new model I try to figure out whether any of your existing LiPos will fit it. One small problem with the GWS Zero for example, is how thin a 3s needs to be to fit the battery compartment. They are typically slightly more expensive batteries.
3. I use cheap servos in models where a crash wont be the end of the world. Hitech HS55s are a bit of a defacto standard for micro servers, but the truth is you can save half the cost of the servos for your plane by using cheaper servos like the Esky and JP Energe servos. My experience with these servos indicates they have good long life, and work just fine. For example, my 200+ flight GWS Zero is using two JP Energe servos.
4. As much as possible standardise on LiPos across the fleet. This is a bit of advice I haven't followed all that well which is a bit daft. If you have a battery for each plane, then a crash on that plane renders some part of your LiPo fleet useless. If you have a couple of common LiPo types you can just fly other planes more.
5. Fly further from the ground - heh accidents happen, glitches happen, things go wrong. If I spend my whole day messing around at 2 to 3 metres the odds of one of these events nabbing a plane is much higher than if I tend to fly in the 5 to 10 metre range most of the time.
6. Balance my LiPos - I wasn't a convert, but now I am. Balance your LiPos. They will last longer. Remember - electric flight isn't free - it is the cost of the LiPo divided by the number of cycles it will live for. If I balance it will increase the number of cycles in most cases.
7. When I buy an airframe I consider the repairability. For example, GWS, Multiplex and many other foam birds repair well. Parkzone Typhoons and Supercubs repair well. Balsa and ARF Balsa are sometimes repairable on bad crashes. However PZ warbirds tend to disintegrate on bad crashes and need to have the airframe replaced.
8. Check the amp draw on my engine setup. Overdrawing the LiPo will reduce its life. If the speedie or motor is constantly abused it will reduce their lives. Worst case I could lock out the speedie, lose the BEC, and then lose the whole aircraft. If I am going to abuse the equipment limits, I like to know by how much I am abusing them.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'll add to the list if other stuff comes to me.