Getting 50 cents off here or $3 off there may not seem like a big deal, but over time small savings can add up to large amounts — if the discounts are on things you buy regularly anyway. (You’re not really “saving” anything if you didn’t intend to buy the item before you discovered the discount.)
What’s this have to do with getting out of debt?
Well, not only do small savings like that add up over time, actively looking for ways to save money gets you in the habit of paying attention to your money. And that is critical to getting out of debt.
You’ve got to know where your money is going — and where you want it to be going — in order to get your finances in order and get out of debt for good.
If you extend the idea of saving small amounts of money here and there to other areas such as building up your emergency fund and paying down debt, that’s even better. (Of course, I’m all about sending small amounts of money to the first debt in your debt snowball in order to get out of debt faster.)
To help you out, here’s a chance from the folks at Saving Advice for you to win a little bit of cash or a gift card:
I'm Jackie Beck, personal finance writer and creator of 
I agree with the idea here that you should be paying attention to your money. Close attention. And so saving those little bits of money gets people to pay better attention to their money — and so maybe those .50 here or there don’t even matter for the bottom line, but that they make people pay more attention to their money is the best affect. I agree!
Paying attention makes a huge difference :)
I try and send as much money to debt repayment as possible. Small savings do add up!
That’s the way to do it!
I used to throw my change into a jar every night. It added up to $40-50 per month. It adds up quickly and definitely worthwhile.
That’s a lot of change!
I have total respect for small amounts of money. We’ve done big things by collecting them and giving them a job to do!
That sounds cool. What are some of the big things you’ve done?
We collect small amounts of money through credit card rewards and warehouse store bonus program. When we mix the two together I think we probably get about $20 a month back. I cant verify that number without doing serious math but that money does well for us.
Nice :)
I literally track every penny now. I never used to and that was a problem. Now I can see where even $10-20 goes which helps me stay on track.
I track every penny too. Once I finally gave the idea a chance I really saw an enormous benefit.
I have always looked for ways to squeeze blood out of a quarter, and it’s paid off:)
Hehe, go Barbara, making quarters bleed!
It’s amazing how quickly those small amounts can add up. We throw our coins in a change jar all the time and in a year’s time there is at least $200 in there. Some people throw in all their one dollar bills and even their $5 bills. It’s a way to trick yourself into saving even more.
As far as saving on purchases, I always count those savings as little victories. They add up to thousands of dollars a year. Keep on saving!
Very nice!