One Cheap Chick

  It’s the first Monday of the month, which means a free rental at Redbox. Use code TEGJ6FD. While some codes are one-time use only, this one can be used by anyone, today only. Read more about Redbox codes here. Also, you can get free rental codes texted to your phone. Find out about that here. Find Thanks HeyItsFree and Freebies4Mom!

I blogged earlier about the Smith's sale that runs through tomorrow. The great thing about this sale is that there are coupons available for many of the sale items, which adds to the savings! For example, I purchased nine cans of Hormel chili for the food bank and one can of Mandarin oranges in one transaction and paid only $1.63 for all 10 items - 42 cents of that was tax! I used three coupons, each worth $2 off three Hormel products, and a coupon worth 50 cents off any Dole canned product to get that deal. Go here to read about the sale and where to get the coupons.

This week's sale made me think about some of the basics of couponing:

1. Get multiple copies of the Sunday newspaper, which contains a variety of coupons. Most newspapers have special discounted deals for those who want several copies of the Sunday newspaper. (Or, find out which of your neighbors and/or friends get the newspaper but don't clip coupons and ask them to give them to you each week!) In any case, I always have several copies of the same coupon, which enables me to take advantage of sales such as the one at Smith's.

2. Only clip the coupons you need, but throw all of the coupon inserts in a file should you need them later. For example, I didn't clip the Hormel coupons when they first appeared weeks ago. But when I saw the Smith's ad, I decided that it was worth using them to get the cans of chili for 16 cents each. Use a coupon database such as AFullCup.com to look up when the coupon appeared in the newspaper and get them out of your file.

3. Get coupons online as well. I printed off the Dole coupon I used at Smith's off of the Internet. Go here to read more.

I stopped by Target this morning and picked up Kellogg's cereal for $1 a box or less, some free small loaves of bread from the bakery and some other great deals.

Read this to find out how to get Kellogg's cereal at a great price. Thanks Saving with Shellie!

For a complete list of Target deals, including the $1 off coupon I used to get free small loaves of bread from the bakery, go here. Thanks HipToSave!

Send in a Halloween candy wrapper, get a coupon good for a free YoCrunch yogurt. Go here for details of this promotion.

If you're awash in candy after the big Halloween weekend, you can trade it in for cash at South Mountain Dental today.  Dentist Christopher Johnson is buying candy from kids of all ages at the rate of $1 per pound from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.  He will then ship all the goodies he's collected to U.S. troops overseas. What a great idea - for kids and our loved ones overseas!  For more information, go here and click on "Money for Munchies."

Note: I've noticed that a number of other dentists are doing this, too, so If Johnson's office is quite a drive for you, check with dentists and orthodontists closer to your home!

The base fare on the high-speed commuter train FrontRunner has been reduced to $2 from $3, reports the Utah Transit Authority. That's what it costs to travel to just one station. While it still costs an extra 50 cents for each additional station, the change reduces the maximum one-way fare from Salt Lake to Pleasant View to $5 from $6.

But perhaps the best news is that UTA has decided to continue with a version of  its popular summer group riding pass. During the summer, the pass cost $10 and was good for a round-trip fare for four. The new pass costs $12 and is still good for groups of four, but it's a day pass good on FrontRunner, the TRAX light rail system and UTA's network of buses.  I like it! Go here for more information.

Get in free to the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City on Monday, Nov. 2. The museum offers free admission (and free parking!) the first Monday of every month. Enjoy!

Have you ever seen so many coupons for toys and games that you can print out at home and use in-store?

As I blogged about earlier, Hasbro has a section of printable coupons for toys on the Coupons.com web site. Click on "Hasbro Savings Center." You can also go here for Hasbro game coupons, such as the new variety of Connect 4 called Connect 4x4.

But there are other sources of these types of coupons as well, including:

$5 off Fisher Price's Trio building system. Go here for that coupon.

Playskool has $75 worth of toy coupons here, good on a variety of toys, including classics such as Mr. Potato Head and Sit N Spin.

And go here for coupons for LeapFrog brand learning toys.

Remember, these coupons can be used on toys that are sale. I have printed a few and am holding on to them for use with "doorbuster" deals around Thanksgiving.

Weber State University’s College of Science, Ott Planetarium and the Weber State Museum of Natural Science are inviting the public to its “Science Saturdays” program today. The planetarium and museum, located in the Lind Lecture Hall, will be open to the public for free, and there will be activities, presentations, exhibits and star shows for all ages. "Science Saturdays" runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Read more about the event here. Need helping finding Weber State, which is in Ogden? Read this.

This offer is available today, Nov. 1, 7 and 8. Go here for more information. Thanks UtahDealDiva.com!