r10bbr - you have received a lot of advice on here, some informed, some maybe not so. I would advise you to take Whirlybird up on her offer.
And, as others have said, do not go on price alone. If you go on to CPL/IR level, costs then will dwarf PPL training. And a little extra spent on good PPL training/grounding now may well save you additional training costs further down the line.