I'm a student pilot with 2.1 hours flying time so far.

I've bought quite a few things from my FBO over the past week that I'd need while flying. So far, I have a headset and a few books. My question is, for a PPL flying single engine planes, what other items will I eventually need? What did you use, or wish you had, while doing your initial training?

My long term goals is to go to a commercial flight school and join an airline. But for now, I'm just getting my PPL and maybe instrument. I've still got 5 months left in the military. So the items I would like to buy now are only the things necessary for PPL flying. But if there's something I can buy that will not only help with PPL flying but also later for commerical flying, let me know.

I see a lot of things being recommended at my flight school and in the aviation catalogs. But, what do I really need? Should I buy that $280 handheld nav/com transeiver as a backup? Would I benefit from using an electronic flight computer? Opinions on handheld GPS?