I am now entering the region in my advancement where multiengine time is beginning to get more and more important. Here is the cold truth: As advised to me by a mentor…
“The bottom line is unless you want to be a career single engine flight instructor you need to get multi engine time. No one is going to give it to you so sooner or later you are going to have to belly up and just do what ever it takes, borrow money, get a loan, sell your car I don’t know what it is you have to do but I do know you just have to do it.”
I’ve put together a spreadsheet to compare costs of various schools. My problem is that multiengine time is just so far from my finger tips it seems. I have 17.6 total hours of multi, but only 1 hour PIC. To get the MEI add-on, I need to have at a minimum 15 hours PIC. So, that means in the course of training, I will need to fly 14 hours before I can qualify for the rating. If I have to pay for every hour myself, then doing it at a local school here is the best way. The total cost of the program will be $3850. For a flight instructor….OUCH!!!!!!
But, looking at that above statement, I don’t have any other choice. The only other choice that I could have is if I can fly some multi time with some people (I do have a few leads), by just riding co-pilot, or giving IR instruction in, then I can chisel away at some of those hours, then run over to one of those quicky schools and bust out a 4 hour MEI course and do it. That would be cheaper.
We will see how it goes. The bottom line is that I cannot afford to sit around passively about multi time anymore. So far it hasn’t paid any dividends. But I need to be smart about it, run my spreadsheets, and make the best choices as I go forward with my VISA in hand. 
If anyone has a twin in Central Florida and needs a co-pilot or CFII, I am available. I am NOT looking for handouts!!! I will instruct for FREE in exchange for the time, or will pay a fair share of the operating expenses.