i hope you have the positive experiences i have had... i just started couponing last year, and i cannot believe how much money i have saved on things i really want! aspirin, dish soap, laundry soap, bath soap... razors... frozen vegetables... it's amazing... i have found that Rite Aid and Walgreens both have really good coupon deals... and it's not that difficult... not that time consuming... those are often the excuses from people who just don't want to bother...
I don't work anywhere near as hard on this as PJ. 15 minutes of clipping from the Sunday Paper. Maybe a scant 15 min of making a list, checking sales, grabbing the correct coupons, etc before shopping.
I keep track of the prices in my head for WalMart, Target, and our Grocery Store of the top 10 or 15 things that we buy every week. So that doesn't really take time at all.
For that 30 min (less really) a week of work, I figure that we get 1-1/2 weeks of groceries, free, per month.
And, for what it's worth, WM advetises "best price", but that's rarely the case in my area. Unless it's a loss leader (and sometimes not even then) they're barely competitive. Target is the best for Dry Goods or processed foods. Our local grocery store has the best loss leaders and meats/dairy/produce. Typically, they even beat the local farmer's market, too.
It's been awhile since I've looked at Costco or Sam's. My experience there is that the prices are good, but not the best. A fair deal if you don't have *any* time to shop, or can't wait for a sale to come back around again. Otherwise, completely worthless.