This one's for you, Bonnie... 

This is my sister-in-law's recipe. We like it. I usually toss in a few hot peppers as well (seeds and all) for some heat.

Jean's Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 bushel Italian tomatoes
3 onions
2 green bell peppers
1 1/2 heaping Tablespoons minced garlic (5 cloves)
48 oz tomato paste
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 heaping Tablespoon sweet basil (dried)
2 heaping Tablespoons oregano (dried)

Scald skins off of tomatoes. Remove skins and core tomatoes. Mill above ingredients and cook down until thick. Place into hot, serilized jars and process 10 minutes (pints), 20 minutes (quarts) in a boiling water bath canner.

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My special notes...

I don't mill my tomatoes. I just chop them (after removing skins and cores, and any bad spots) and put them in my 18 quart electric roaster, as I like the sauce a little chunky. I chop the onion and peppers and run them through my food processor before putting them in with the tomatoes. I just put the rest of the ingredients in with the tomatoes. I cook it at around 250 degrees until desired thickness, stirring often throughout the day to keep from burning. I always put a little water between the heating element and the liner of my roaster to aid in keeping it from burning. Figure on this being an all-day project. You can use regular tomatoes, such as beefsteaks or big boys, but it will take longer to cook down because of the water content of the tomatoes.  In the batch I made on Saturday, I got 21 pints canned and ran out of jars. I had a mixing bowl that I put the remainder of the sauce in (about 2 pints) and put that in the fridge. Before we left for church on Sunday, I put frozen meatballs in my crock pot and dumped the sauce from the bowl on them and we had delicious meatball sandwiches for lunch! 

This is what I do.  Open a jar of ragu robusto, either roasted garlic or sautee'd garlic & onion.     My mother thinks I'm terrible for not making my own.    O well!

I happen to like ragu robusto better than my mother's sauce.  Her's tastes almost exactly like Paul Newman's Sockarooni.  It's ok, but I like the sweet garlic flavor in the Ragu better.

Your right, Melissa.  It is only cost effective to make your own, if you either grow the ingredients yourself or they are given to you.  I am able to pick up ragu here for $1.59 and we only use one jar at a time. 
Tonight I am using 1/2 a jar b/c I am stuffing some banana peppers from my garden.  YUMMY!  My hubby loves it, but my kids won't touch it.  More for me!  LOL. 

Nothing wrong with doctoring up a ready-made. I do that, often. Lots of times I use 1 jar of sauce that we like, and 1 jar of crushed tomatoes or regular sauce and let it simmer with some added ingredients. It gives it a little boost of "homemade freshness."