Clipping Coupons...A Love/Hate Relationship

One thing I've found is that clipping coupons is totally REPOSEFUL. It's really relaxing to sit on the couch with my circulars, flip through the great coupons, take out my sharp scissors, clip away and dream of getting a great deal or something FREE with those little slips of paper!

How many times has that happened?
NEVER!

While the act of clipping the coupons is fun and relaxing, actually making them work for me is seriously stressful! I just feel lost, like I don't know where to begin. I know there are websites that do the work for you, cross referencing the store sales fliers with available coupons for the best deals. But a lot of those services charge a monthly fee. And my objective is to SAVE money, not spend it on something I could easily do myself. But it's not easy. The folks I do know personally who are super couponers spend a lot of time online and at the stores searching out the best deals. It really is a time investment if you want to learn to do this right.

But I just don't get how it all works? It seems like when I get to the store, the price of the name brand product with a coupon is still more expensive than just buying the store brand. I also think it's more expensive to buy processed prepackaged food than it is to just make certain things yourself. For example, why would I buy a jar of Ragu with a coupon that saves me a few pennies when it's just cheaper and healthier to make my own sauce with a can of store brand tomatoes, a $.30 can of tomato paste, half a green pepper, half an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, salt, pepper and spices? And it tastes better too! Although I would like to get in on getting those boxes and boxes of free pasta that everyone talks about. I can see how that works. Right now Barilla pasta is $1.00 a box at Kroger. If you had a $.50 off coupon, which Kroger doubles, then it would be free! I'm all about easy math like that. But once it gets complicated with mixing and matching and earning bucks and points etc. then I get lost. So, back to the pasta...does anybody have any Barilla coupons or know where I could find some? :)

If I had someone to sit with me and go through the fliers, help me match up the coupons and then walk me through the store to show me how to take advantage of the great deals (especially at Rite Aid), then I think I could learn how to do it. But I'm not going to pay for it!

Could any of you offer some suggestions, favorite websites, advice, ANYTHING?