"It's only two dollars..."

If I hear people make one HUGE financial mistake frequently, it is the making the above statement.  I hear this all the time, from people all over the place. After all... it's only 1 or 2 dollars.

I don't think people understand a simple concept.  During the course of a year, you may have a few opportunities to save a few hundred dollars at one shot.  If you are lucky, maybe once a year you might have a shot at saving thousands.

But we have many, if not hundreds, of opportunities to save small amounts of money over the course of the year.  A $1 a day McDonald's coffee habit costs you $365 a year, plus the gas you paid to drive out of your way to get there.  A $4 fancy schmancy latte at Starbucks three times a week adds up to $624 over a year. The $5 cafeteria lunch is $1250 a year.  When you add all of your "small" spending habits up over the year, it can save you thousands of dollars every year consistently.

The little stuff adds up.

This is why one of the areas that can make a significant impact on our budgets is being mindful of what we spend at the grocery store.  Saving 25¢ on this item, $1 on that one.... it can save you many dollars a week... and that adds up to thousands a year.  By trimming my food budget back to $25 a person a week from $75, I save $2600 annually.  That is a lot of money!