Wow! Coupons really work.

Today I needed to do some grocery shopping and before I went I did a little planning and followed the recommendations of the "Coupon Mom" book that I read recently. I have to tell you that I save over 50% on my shopping today. All it took was about 30min to plan and I did go to Publix and Kroger. For me that works out great because they are only a few hundred yard apart. Here is the break down. At Kroger I spent $29.78, if I had paid full price it would have been $69.88. At Publix I spent $10.15, if I had paid full price it would have been $19.92. My total full cost price between the two stores would be $89.80. My actual cost between the two stores was $39.93. That is a total savings of $49.87. That is over 50%. For me, $49.87 is a great return on my 30min investment of time to plan my trip. Here is the funny thing. I usually by store brand food when I can to save money. Well today I purchased all national brand items and they all below the cost of the store brand. Above is a pic of what I got for my money. You will notice there is no meat. That is because I have plenty in the freezer, since I stock up when it is on sale. I ended up with 12 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese for the kids (with store savings and coupons 10 boxes were free). 4 bags of Kraft shredded cheese, 2 8oz Kraft Philly veggie cream cheese, 1 Birdseye Violia frozen meal, 1 30ct bag of Mission corn tortillas, 1 Chichi's salsa, 1 box of Ortega whole wheat taco shells, 1 Ortega taco seasoning, 4 cans Rosarita's refried beans, 2 cans Rotell, 4 jars Bertolli pasta, 2 boxes Barilla Pasta, 2 bottles of Kraft dressing, 1 container of CousCous, 3 16oz containers of Breakstone sour cream, 1 bag of carrots, 1 bunch celery, 1 head of iceberg.