In my opinion, parking a plane outside is false economy. You save a
little each month, but pay for it in other ways:

See my previous reply to false economy. Many of your examples are valid
points but SoCal is a very expensive place to hanger an aircraft and the
case may not hold up for this local area.

-Plane will continuously need a wash (washing a plane = major time
sink)

ROFL!!! This is California. Many airports won't let you wash your plane.
Water = Runoff = Ecological disaster!

-Worrying every time a storm pulls thru

Up until a few days ago, I would have said this isn't a big issue in San
Diego.

Finally, I believe the Citabria's have fabric wings, which is not a
good choice for a permanent outdoor enviroment.

I have seen Citabrias parked outside around here for years. Fabric holds up
"pretty" well and these are rental planes that are never cleaned or have UV
protectant on them. I would probably clean my plane much more and
definitely apply UV protectant a few times a year.

If there is a possibility that finances could be tight in the future,
pilots are much better off renting or joining a flying club...

There is ALWAYS a chance that finances could be tight in the future. That
is one of the reasons for my 5 year vacation from flying. The new plane
will be a cash purchase with a healthy reserve account for *most* unexpected
events. Very few clubs rent Citabrias. Try to schedule one for a weekend
and they laugh, that is when the rent them for aerobatics instruction.
Scheduling issues just drove me nuts so I decided to quit flying until I
could buy my own. Plus, a few times the aircraft came back with squaks that
weren't logged that I found during preflight. A couple of them made me
cancel the flight for safety...another reason I decided to quit renting
until I could buy.

Slip'er