I just did my first big coupon 'adventure' yesterday!! I had someone who is an old hat teach me what to do and she said:
1) you can't be brand loyal
2) you buy only what is on sale and ONLY if you have an additional manufactures coupon to go with it.
3) you plan your meals around what is on sale
4) she writes her shopping list (from the sales circular) takes only those coupons with her and buys ONLY what is on her list.
5) she never shops at a store deli... only the pkg. meats & cheeses for lunches, etc.
She buys all of their non lunch meat in bulk (1/4 of an organic cow that is butchered for them) and she feeds a family of six on $75 a week (less the aforementioned beef). She usually buys $125-$150 worth of food and then after coupons she pay about $75 out of pocket. She will buy in bulk for things like hamburger helper, etc. but they use it all and she's not like those crazy coupon ladies!
Sooo I tried it for the first time this weekend.... the only difference for me was that I do like certain brands so I did shop what I liked and I do buy our cheese and meats from the deli and I bought a ton of stuff for my hubby (expensive razor cartridges.. but with a coupon!) . It took a while to get the feel for it down and to keep the coupons organized and all - but I did great (for me!!) they even had to call the manager over approve the sale b/c they said I saved so much.
I spent $312 less $115.21 in coupons (10 were doubled) for a total of $197.63 out of pocket (plus fuel rewards and 36 tickets toward some 'game ' they have going now... I won $2.00 of my last set of tickets.) I hadn't shopped in a while and I bought a lot of non food items so I did spend more than most coupon cutters - but as my husband said it's like free money b/c we would have bought all that stuff anyway!
If I ever get more extreme I would only buy 10-20 of an item if it was something I could donate to a shelter or food kitchen. The people who hoard are just ridiculous and ruining it for the rest of us. Another site you can check out is suzyscoupons.com. Good luck!!