This post is dedicated to how the little things add up.

I was fortunate enough in my youth to grow up with a father who was a financial guru, and instilled in me some very useful qualities regarding finances. In fact, one of the most useful is simply being smart with money.

I risked everything and purchased my first home at 23. Shortly thereafter, I began investing any additional money I saved in my 401k or mutual funds. At the time, I really did not see the benefits, but now only a few years later I can see the why my dad always taught me to save and invest.

I remember our family financial model was built on the Rich Dad Poor Dadplatform or The Millionaire Next Door, long before there were either. My siblings and I also lived under a hood of Micro-saving that included extreme measures such as enjoying one McDonald’s cheeseburger, sharing fries, and drinking water while all the other kids ate happy meals. Am I any worse off for it today? Not one bit, in fact, that lesson has been enormously valuable especially in the current economy.

Right now, it does not matter whether you are a low-income earner or Warren Buffet everyone has their eye on the United State Economic future. With constantly rising gas prices, the sub-prime debacle, Wall Street bailouts, and constant bombardment of an impending recession it can be a little overwhelming.

After enjoying a few years of financial pleasure, my wife and I struggled in 2007. Her business is dependent on a strong real estate market and Denver, where we live, was one of the hardest hit with foreclosures and collapsing market values. Our income significantly reduced and our savings diminished. As we crested the mountain that was 2007 and gazed towards the horizon for a sign of a break in the gloomy financial weather, we could see nothing by black clouds on the horizon. One thing was clear; we were going to have to take measures into our own hands.

I remembered the lessons my father instilled in me and a comment I once heard, “If you want to change, you are going to have to change something you do daily”.

One thing I love about the internet is how easy it is to let your bills and money take care of themselves by having your salary directly deposited into your account and all of your bills and investments automatically deducted from your checking/saving account. However, this can have its drawbacks. If you do not pay attention to your bills, you may be spending money un-necessarily.

Last month my wife and I sat down to Micro-scrub our spending habits and the result was what I call Micro-savings. What is easy to overlook is how the little things can make a big difference.

The following are three areas I recommend scrubbing to potentially put more money in your pocket without sacrificing a thing.

Utilities – Take a look at your utility bills. Are they unnecessarily high or are you paying for features that are un-necessary.

One example would be, my wife and I saw that we had two cell phones used for almost all our calls, and a landline that was being un-used. So we canceled the land line and saved.

Last year we also moved our cell phone plans from individual carriers to a family plan on one carrier. However, we did not know how many minutes we were going to need. Not wanting to pay overage charges, we chose the 2000 minutes a month plan. After allowing some time to gauge our usage, we have accrued over 10,000 roll-over minutes. So, we have cut back our cell phone plan to 1400 minutes and saved.

Do you have any other utilities that you can cut back on without sacrificing use? Look it over, I bet you do.

Amenities – These are what I consider ‘Special Spending’. Items that just make you feel better such as memberships, subscriptions, or pampering that are going unused?

For my wife and I, once we found out we are expecting our second child she was not going to be using our gym membership as frequently as before over the next year. So, we put her membership on hold and saved. In addition, I canceled subscriptions to magazines that I really was not reading. Besides I can get the same content from their website and SHHHHHHH, this is a secret, it is free.

Do you have amenities that you could cut back on, change to a new program, or remove that would save you additional coin?

Self Disciplined costs or ‘Risky Business’ – the final cost cutting plan has to do with areas that take extreme discipline or the willingness to accept the consequences if you blow it.

They involve your insurance deductibles on home, renters, or auto insurance. One area I took into consideration was my auto deductible. Insurance professionals do not recommend ever making an auto claim on anything under $1000.00 so why not raise your deductible to $1000.00. Yahoo has a great article on this for more info.

The risk is that if you have to make a claim it is going to cost you more out of pocket. However, if you are a safe driver you could potentially save money.

After everything was all said and done, my wife and I have saved quite a bit of money. Money we were simply giving to the billing companies. Since we do not have any debt, we are going to reinvest that money and put it to work for us. You may be able to do the same by Micro-scrubbing your bills improving your financial outlook by Micro-saving.

Now here is my last suggestion, which may draw a series of boos from the crowd. DO NOT SPEND THAT MONEY ON FRIVEROULOUS ITEMS! It will be very tempting to blow that money; however, I recommend using it to pay down debt or investing it in a mutual fund, 401k, or IRA.

Finally, here is where I may sound like a commercial, but it is true – Talk to your financial advisor to find out the right option for you.

Having money will not make you happier, but not having debt will.

This is a good basic budget worksheet to help get you started. Or this one from Fidelity

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