Shopping- First experience with coupons! Target

I have a friend who's been known to walk out of a store with practically not paying a dime!  I've always been impressed with this but when we've asked her for this knowledge, she said it was too complicated to teach which leads me to believe it's either really hard.....or she thinks I'm kind of an idiot.  Considering my first experience, I think the latter is the case LOL.  I'm not talking- oh, here's a coupon for something I want...I'll hand it to the cashier!  I want to take it to the next level to save some major cash!!!!

A few weeks back, my friends Dawn and Buffy attended a FREE Coupon Class hosted by Heather at Queen Bee Coupons www.queenbeecoupons.com (also on Facebook). If you have the chance to go to one of her classes- GO.  She covered lots of things from doubling, rebates, to organizing...my virgin brain was a little overwhelmed! She got me on the right track and I started clipping my first coupons.

Along the way, I came across another blog at www.thecouponchallenge.com (also on Facebook) which had a few coupon matchings for Target that I needed.  I decided to start small instead of hitting the grocery store so we went there on a Friday evening.  One of the coupons she had was a "match-up" where you use one coupon from the store, and another from the manufacturer and you will get Kraft Dressing for about .04 a bottle.  Maybe it's where you live but mine came up to .54 but who cares- great deal!!!!

With my little stack of coupons (which felt HUGE handing over to the cashier!), I ended up paying $42.78 but SAVED $20.99!!!  Then I saw my photo of what I bought....looks so tiny!  Not sure if I got "the best deals" compared to other stores but I just needed a few things, and I wasn't going to run all over town!

I'm having a hard time reading my receipt.  First of all, not all the coupons went through so the gal had to double check about seven (ugh) so those are just grouped on the bottom.  Also, I guess I'm confused if sometimes coupons cannot be used during a sale?  It's not clear looking at the receipt because on one item it was off the sale price, but on others (ex: the PF Chang's) , it took the coupon off the ORIGINAL price.  Huh.
 
Also, I wasn't going for the whole idea of walking out the door spending the least amount possible.  For example, I could have purchased the smaller Q-Tips, used my Target AND MFR coupon (was on box) and saved another $1 to impress you but, per tip, it was cheaper to buy the larger box.  Make sense?  It's not a good contest to win if you end up spending MORE for things!!

The PF Chang's was a splurge (but I got it for about 1/2 price!) that I had wanted to try since we were just there for Happy Hour.  Also, my hubby got testy over the Hershey Kisses but I had a $1 coupon off and I wanted them for myself- I mean- as giveaways to school staff, etc.  Also, the bread was a good deal- ending up at just .49!  I used the "match-up" method on the PF Chang's, Dressing, Granola Bars and then the rest were regular coupons.

When I asked my family what they thought about this whole coupon experience, my 16 yr old said "It's embarrassing!  NObody should have to use coupons"  (well, in a perfect world sweetie!), and my hubby who went along with me, said it wasn't that bad but he wasn't the one that had to clip coupons for days!  As for myself, I am going to try this for awhile.  Think I'd rather have a sore hand from the scissors than have to go to "work"  ;)  Thanks for all your help gals!