I see a lot of people that want to be spoon fed the flight training and take much longer to progress. Reading ahead and studying are free, which makes the time in the plane much more productive.
For IFR training, I would suggest buying old copy of Microsoft flight simulator off eBay and a cheap joystick. I spent around 50 dollars for a basic setup. The advantage is you can play around with the VORs, ILS, DME, GPS, etc. to learn how to use without paying for the plane to run. The needle deflected to right with a TO arrow, where am I type stuff. I think a new version is coming out later this year that will have updated info. The home PC does not do a great job giving you the feel of flying in the soup.
Hang out at the airport and become involved with some of the organizations such as EAA, CAP, etc.. Great opportunities will come from just meeting people at the airport such as being a safety pilot, helping someone ferry a plane to annual, etc..