I do not know where new growers get the idea that running CFLs are cheaper--when you get as many as you need, they are not cheaper and they are not cooler, another common misconception. There are so many downsides to running CFLs and really no upsides that I can think of, other than you can use them for household lighting, which is really the only thing they should be used for.
I did notice that one of the reasons that you do not want to drop a lot of money is that this may "not as much fun as I thought it would be". So, maybe you should expound on what you think this will be. While it is fun and I love growing, it is a lot of hard work and it does take a certain amount of time and knowledge and the ability to put that knowledge into practice. Plants take constant care. You need certain things for the plants to make it to harvest, the right food for the growing phase you are in, in the correct proportions at the correct pH. It takes about 4 months from the time you drop a seed until you can smoke the bud. You will need to be able to control the heat in the summer (the reason for an air coolable hood). When the plants need care, you will have to be able to take care of them. This is not a plant and let them do their own thing project. So, probably the first question before you spend any money is whether you are willing and eager to spend the time, money, effort, studying, and dedication that cannabis gardening takes? There are huge amounts of hard work and frustration thrown in with the fun--it is not like tomatoes or flowers.
When looking for lights, look at the lumens and the color spectrum. For veggging you want a minimum of 3000 lumens per sq ft in a blue spectrum. For flowering you want a minimum of 5000 lumens per sq ft of red light, but most of us run more. For instance, my flowering space is only a bit larger than yours and I am running a 1000W HPS. So, your space is 17.5 sq ft. You can now figure how much lighting you will need for your space. If you look at the lumens of CFLs bulbs, you will see that you will need at least twice as many watts than if you were using HPS--400W of HPS provides more light and substantially more bud than 800W of CFLs. Like mentioned though, a 400w is not large enough for your space. And I would go with an air coolable hood or cool tube. There is, however, quite a bit of other stuff you will need. You might want to try and do a bit more reading and to determine what it is going to take to set up a small grow and see if you are going to be able to meet the demands of the hobby, both time, energy and money.
