I used them more in OK when most of the grocery stores around us tripled the face value up to ususally .49. I don't use them as much today as I have in the past but maily because we tend to do most of our shopping at Sam's where they do not take coupons.
When I was in my 20's, Target in Arkansas, just across the border from OK on I40 used to triple 2-3 x a year and I would go there to mainly purchase my cleaning products. I saved tons of $ and would travel just to do this.
I've had people gather around my cart to see how much I actually saved. Who cares if ANYONE snubs you for using coupons, we live in AMERICA at least for now.
And now days they just scan the coupon, and occasionally have to write in the amount of the product it's pretty fast. Do this for them ahead of time and they really appreciate it!
I think the smartest you can be is to know your prices, know who price matches like WalMart so you can get a lot of shopping done at one store rather than run all around trying to match your coupons up to who-has-what-for-sale-where.
I wil usually go through the newspaper coupons every Sunday and organize them in a coupon folder, or sometimes box. Once a month I'll pull the ones which expire first and toss anything I'm probably not going to use.
Don't get sucked into trying a product for a few cents off when the "OFF" brand saves you much more. If there is a product you want to try, then try it with the coupon.
I think one of the key successes to using coupons is knowing your prices.
Since moving here, though, I haven't used a one.