Is couponing really worth it?

I know Extreme Couponing is a total rage right now in our poor economy, but let me start off with I am NOOOOOOOOO extreme coupon queen.  I am a moderate couponer who pretty much refuses to buy things that I don't have a coupon for unless completely necessary, or I am shopping at Aldi, (Or I forgot to defrost or cook ahead dinner!!  It happens!!).  But despite the financial troubles people are having, I still hear a lot of people saying that coupons are either not really worth it, or they just don't have the time.  I even hear they wouldn't buy the items that the coupons are for.  If you give me about two minutes of your time, I would like to try to change your mind...

I make it my goal when I am shopping to save just as much as I spent.  If I gave the grocery store $50, I hope to have saved $50.  But I have been doing even better than that recently...today I managed to only give the store $86 (taxes were $2) and I saved $115.  Almost every single item had at least one coupon to go with it, if not two.  It only took me 45 minutes to print and clip and I left my house at 10:00 am and returned bu 10:52 am.  Let's round that up to 11 for the sake of, say, a bathroom trip.  That is 1 hour and 45 min total time spent couponing and shopping.  While we were at the store, my daughter held the coupons that I was going to use.  At one point, she dropped one and ran over to pick it up.  I said, "Good thing we didn't lose that one.  It was a dollar!"  She laughed at me, but when my total after the store took off its promo prices was almost $120.  I made her watch as the cashier scanned my coupons and the total went down, down, down and then I only had to pay the cashier $88.  Now I also realize that part of my original savings was the promo items because without those I would have paid almost $204, but my receipt reflected $30.10 of coupons and 85.83 in buy one get one pricing.  That is totally worth the 1 hour and 45 minutes of planning.

What about the junk food that coupons tend to represent?  I can assure you I am a home cooked meals kind of girl and I make just about everything from a realistic "scratch" that I can.  I do NOT shop organics though several of my friends do and are really beginning to get the hang of that, though it is still a bit pricier.  The most "junky" thing I got was potato flakes for instant potatoes!  I even got a ton of fresh fruits (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, spinach and spring mix lettuce), and almost 3 lbs of ribs!

Haven't convinced you??  Well, I suppose I can't convince everyone, but I feel like I need to try as hard as I can!  Ask away and I can tell you EXACTLY what I do in my 45 min. time slot!