Have any of you really saved any money with CFL bulbs?

They may save money on electricity, but CFLs are eating my pocketbook alive. I have purchased probably 15 100 watt equivalent CFLs from GE. I currently have three of them that are working. The rest have all died prematurely. The local hardware store was replacing them even a year or more after purchase, but I took two in today and they refused to exchange them because it was over 90 days. (Certainly within their right.)

I'm trying to figure out how this is saving me any money with trips to store to replace bulbs and all the bulbs I have purchased. GE will replace the two deaad bulbs I have under the 5 year warranty, but I have to ship the bulbs to them. The shipping could very well cost more than just spending $3.98 plus tax on two new bulbs. I would like to find an affordable LED light bulb that would last longer, but the ones I have tried all have issues yet.