Express Couponing

I posted back in Nov 1, 2010 about a shopping trip to CVS, where I got a bunch of free stuff (Titled: Yep, It was all free). I can't say that I am extreme by any means, instead I am a practical coupon-er. I do it when I can and I know some tricks to make it relatively easy and quick...hence I call it Express Couponing. During this trip, I did no prep work before and I only spent my typical 30-45 minutes shopping. The total bill was just over $200, but I only spent $80. I could have saved about $10 more if I had all the right coupons in hand at the time...but oh well. Perhaps a 60% savings isn't something to brag about when there are all these episodes on TLC (which I still have yet to see) where people buy $100's of groceries for a few dollars. In this particular trip, there were 23 organics products (including 2 lbs of organic chicken), which makes any bill slightly higher. I also have to add that this trip was at Safeway, which typically has higher priced products when compared to surrounding stores. My favorite find was Safeway's Friday deal: I bought 4 bags of fish and chips for a quick weekend meal for a family of 4. This sounds silly but I can't wait until my kids are big enough to use scissors...then we can have some family time clipping coupons and chatting :)