NEWBIE how do I replace the electrical outlets that have multiple wires

some of the electrical outlets have sockets that either become loose or the box itself is stripped so the cover does not sit flush. when I pulled out the receptacle I noticed there are a whole bunch of wires going into the back of the unit. these appear to be a slightly bigger gauge so I'm not sure how these would fit in the new receptacles.

my thought as a newbie is that I would like to replicate what was done versus trying to wrap the wires around the side screws on the new receptacle. any thoughts?

 

Thoughts? Yes, don't do it. Pigtail your wires so that you have 1 Blk, 1 Wht and 1 ground wire to attach to each receptacle.

 

Don't backstab. Use the side terminals.

 

That will be a mistake as already mentioned.
On your typical receptacle inserting the wires into the back of the receptacle is not at all a good practice. And as a newbie you should head the advice given. What you should do is connect the same color wires with a wire nut and then use a shorter piece of the same color wire and connect one end with the wire nut and the other end of the short piece directly to the screw on the receptacle.

But also be aware that depending on the function of the receptacle and the set up of a particular receptacle it is not always done the same way. Meaning, yes you should not use the back stabbing method but instead use the screws but what I mean is depending on the intended use of the receptacle it does not mean that every scenario will be the same. If the receptacle is just one cable coming in and one going out then it holds true but if the receptacle happens to be a switched or split wire receptacle (wiring method) then all the same color wires may not be nutted together.

The only time you should really wire a receptacle from the back etc is if the receptacle has what they call a "pressure plate" where the wire is actually tightened with the screw but a pressure plate holds the wire between the screw and the plate. Such as on a GFCI receptacle and some of the higher end receptacles like 20amp have pressure plates.

So it really depends on the function of the receptacle as to the proper method of connecting what wires to what screws etc.

 

To make life easier don't use cheap outlets where you have wrap the wire around the screw terminal or compression back stab. Use outlets that have screw clamp connections. Those outlets cost a dollar or so a piece instead of 50 cents a piece.