Free & Cheap for Oct. 1

Here are weekly highlights from our bargains blog at TBO.com. To find it there, search for "Free & Cheap."

Get a free photo book for the holidays

If you want to get started on creating your stockpile of holiday gifts, now might be the time, before the crush of shopping, cooking and decorating is upon us.

One option always welcome under the grandparents' tree is a custom photo book.

One website I like for ease of use and the always low, low price of "free" is Hotprints.com.

You can make four of Hotprints.com's 16-page custom books for free every month. All you pay is $2.99 shipping per book.

Janine Dorsey

Extra savings at Michaels

In a three-day deal ending today, Michaels crafts is offering a coupon that will give you 20 percent off your total purchase, including sale items.

This is a sweet deal because Michaels coupons usually are for one item and exclude sale items.

Weekly webcast: Save on costumes

With costumes, candy and decorations, many people spend a lot for Halloween.

This week's Free & Cheap Roundtable webcast will help you spend a little less.

Two words: papier-mache, for masks, hats and other flair, all for the price of the flour in your pantry and the newspapers in the recycle bin.

Also, check out prices at "Planet Halloween" in the Oldsmar Goodwill on Tampa Road. You'll find costume options new and used, as little as $5 for kids and $10 for adults.

Market Basket: Who's cheapest now

There's a $17 difference this week between the cheapest and most expensive prices on our Market Basket of 30 typical grocery items.

Here's the final tally: Walmart $69.19, Target $72.74, Sweetbay $80.09, Winn-Dixie $84.45 and Publix $85.89.

Still, this week's survey shows cost-cutting Walmart isn't the cheapest on everything, including butter, Hamburger Helper and Oreo cookies.

Free bowling for signing up at AMF

Signing up for memberships or newsletters on the websites of your favorite places can yield big rewards.

This week, one of our staffers alerted us to the fact that members of AMF Bowling's eClub were getting email coupons for six free games.

Added rewards for taking CVS pledge

Now you can get $2 "Extra Bucks" from CVS to use like cash by pledging online not to be a "money trasher."

Apparently there are people who earn these rewards and never redeem them!

The offer is good for the first 500,000 who sign up and will expire on Nov. 1.