Yeah, the savings can be marginal unless you are making the bread for a family. However, I get serious heartburn from the cheapest loaves at the grocery store, so I end up buying the nicer loaves that are $3-4, which does add up. Either way, I like the idea of having bread without the extra chemicals and for cheaper, the best and almost only way to do that is to make the loaves yourself.
As mentioned above, check thrift stores. There's almost always one or two there. The first one I bought was a bust (circuit board issue), but the second one has been very good so far. Note the pans usually make weirdly shaped loaves, but most will have a knead setting after which you can place the dough in a normal-sized bread pan and cook in the oven. It does take a little finesse, you can't simply dump the ingredients in, but you can get pretty close. I've had two loaves turn out decently well. Though seriously, why can't they just make a bread machine that produces your standard, long, 4" wide loaf? I would seriously consider paying top dollar for that, but nothing that I've seen does that. There are worse things to spend money on. If you are actively going to use it, it could be worth the money, but definitely check the thrift store, first. You might get lucky and snag a really nice one for $5-15.