One small accomplishment

I have been try to coupon for almost a year now and to say I have not been good is an under statement. I feel like I have spent more than I have saved by just trying to coupon. But yesterday I finally had a small break through. Let me start by telling you how I used to coupon. I would purchase the paper and then each week go to southernsavers.com to see what Publix had on sell for the week. Well, for several months I did this and I would save at the most $12 and I would waste a good 30-45 minutes trying to clip the coupons. So after a few months I just gave up. Then this week a friend of mine/family member on Kyle's side told me about these 2 ladies in Athens, AL called "two thrifty sisters". They are a lot like southern savers but a little bit better in my opinion. They lay out all of the sales that Publix is having for the week and which newspaper to get the coupons from (southern savers does this as well but they are not always as accurate with the dates). So yesterday, I went to the two thrify sisters web page to get the coupon deals, I printed out the online coupons, and then I went home and Kyle helped me cut on the newspaper coupons. Unfortunately, in my couponing frustration I got rid of several papers from the month of November which were actually necessary for this week's sale but I still did okay. I say I did okay because so many people I know that coupon will spend $20 on $200 worth of groceries. I am no LB (Laura Beth), she is the one who started we on couponing. She blogs frequently about her couponing success and every time I am just amazed at the success she has since I have not had much. Okay so I cannot give you the whole grocery list to give you an idea of what all I bought but I can tell you that I spent $116 dollars and saved $79 this week at Publix. I blame the $116 on the sale items being more expensive (like the B1G1 olive oil and things like that). I needed to stock up on them but in general they are more expensive plus me not having kept all the papers did not help either. So there you have it a small accomplishment after almost a year. Does anyone else coupon? If you are a good couponer and have tips please pass them along. I love stretching a buck! BTW, these ladies will be holding a seminar next Saturday from 9-12 in Madison if you want to attend just check on their blog.