When I worked- I simply didn't do coupons. Of course I always looked for sales and such, but I didn't scour the ads, didn't chase deals, and I didn't bother with all of that. I went to my 2 fav. grocery places that alwasy had what i needed, and that was that.

Really, for TRUE savings, you need to dedicate a good amount of time to scanning the ads each week, matching up the coupons, checking your proce book, and then driving to the stores. Now that I'm home, I have piles of time to do that all week ( even though I really don't like it much) .

as for other bargain shopping, I have the time, but I've lost patience chasing the clothing bargains at the mall and other stores. I try to stick to stores I know have consistant sales, and I don't stock up on kids clothes now. When they were little I could alwasy buy ahead a season, but older kids have specific tastes ( I won't wear colored pants mom! ) and ( ewwww- sandals gross! ) and they grow so oddly, I just buy as they need things. Actually this works better becase they wear every single item in thier closet- and they don't have too many clothes- something they did have as little kids. It used to drive me bonkers having a whole side of the closet filled with clothes waiting for the kids to grow into . Sometimes they never would, and the season would be over. New clothes with tags still on them were never worn.

as to how to bargain shop if you work full time- I used to use my lunch hour to plan stuff like tihs. I'd leave during my lunch hour- to a quiet place ( stressful hospital job, I needed quiet) and I'd sit in a staff room , or even my car on a nice day and plan my menus, look at the ads if I felt like it. make a to do list, make appointments, do whatever other people can do when they get to stay home during the day. I felt that by leaving the office space and doing this, it helped organize my off time better. I also like to try to shop at "odd " times.
There's nothing more stressful than saturday afternoon at wal-mart triyng to get groceries. I would try to go EARLY- like 5 am to do my shopping when it was empty- or late at night, or some other Off peak time. It helped me really concentrate on prices and shopping rather than the frenzy of the afternoonwhere there are families of 7 shopping and plowing you down in the produce deparment. something about crowds makies me just want to throw anything in my cart, at any price, and get out of there.