Couponing How-To

So many people always ask how I save so much money on groceries, so I'm going to tell you ALL my secrets!  (okay they aren't really secrets just things that some people don't know)

The Goal:  

Spend as little as possible on food and other household items.  My personal goal is to save 80%  OR MORE on each transaction.

Example:
 
This trip I bought:
3 bags of Gorton's Fish
4 Packages of Oscar Myers Lunch Meat
3 6 Packs Danoninos Drinkable Yogurt
3 Phillidelphia Cooking Cream
1 Greek Yoplait yogurt
3 Dole Fruit Crisp
4 24 Pack of Nestle Pure Life Bottled Water
3 boxes of Ritz crackers
1 Beechnut Rice Cereal
6 Cans Pedigre Dog Food
2 Dial Foaming Had Soap
1 Kroger Toilet Cleaner
3 Zone Bar
20 Boxes of Ronzoni Pasta
3 Sunny Delight
3 Boxes Lucky Charms Cereal
2 Butterfinger Snackers
2 Starburst
2 Powerade
2 Beechnut Baby Food
1 Kroger Cotton Squares

76 Items Total

I spent:

Out of Pocket:   $27.86
I received a $5 Catalina to use on my next transaction (more about that later)
I saved $172.30   86%

You should know there are several things on this list that we wouldn't normally buy: Butterfingers, Sunny D, canned dog food, Zone bars etc.  However they were free, so we buy them and then we put them in our pantry and instead of having a sweet tooth and going to the store, paying $0.50-$1.00 at the store, we go to our pantry and pick something that was free.

This is how you do it: