Tips for a lower grocery bill : )

Sorry I haven't posted since my first post. Between the start of a beautiful summer and two sick kids, it's been crazy around here. I'm hoping to share some ways to lower your grocery bill, I'm sure a few of you out there are fans of TLC's Extreme Couponing like me and have seen some amazing savings. I was a little discouraged knowing that I will probably never see those kinds of savings, BUT I didn't give up and my couponing has turned into quite a passion.
My first tip would be to CLIP coupons, even if you don't need that item right now, chances are you will down the road. If you can save it, it could benefit you more in the long run. I've started collecting and saving coupons and keeping my eye on the store sales. The best way to use a coupon is when you can double it with a store sale. I'm sad that none of the stores here in Alaska don't double mfr. coupons, and that is why we won't be able to get "free" groceries.
I did get a response for Fred Meyer and it is a company wide policy as of March that they will not double coupons. Safeway also responded to me and let me know that it is a store to store decision whether or not to double coupons. So if you too would like to see Safeway double coupons, start talking to your store managers!!
I have been getting some great deals at Fred Meyer my last couple of trips. A few days ago I got a savings of 70%! The bulk of this purchase was 11 gal. of organic milk. I had also purchased Clorox wipes, Finish dishwasher gels, and a few other items. Everything was on clearance, which Fred Meyer marks down 50% add the 10% discount card that Fred Meyer sends out to residents of the Kenai Peninsula and the use of my $14 rebate card cut my retail price of $94 (this is original price before markdown) to $28.
Today was also another good shopping day. Not quite as good, but close to a $50 savings. In this $50 savings, I only used $9 in mfr. coupons. Some of my purchases were again from the clearance items and items that not only were on sale, but the sale flyer had store coupons for an additional savings. One of my best deals I feel was my coupons for cereal and fruit. One of the clearance items I purchased was a box of Kix cereal, marked half of because the box was a little dented, added to this was a coupon for $1 off two boxes of General Mills cereal. I had a coupon for $1 off two boxes of Frosted Flakes which were on sale for 2/$5 and another coupon for $1 my fruit when I bought two boxes of Frosted Flakes.
I have started to condition myself to not purchase anything if it's NOT on sale or I don't have a coupon for it. There are a few exceptions which is organic milk and believe me I loved finding it on clearance the other day!! I very rarely find that treat : ) The other exception is meat, it's kind of hard to find that on a good sale, but with another two BBQ holidays coming soon, keep your eyes out for good burger and hot dog sales.