I understand where Mrs. Pete is coming from. If you save your change, but instead of scronging up quarters from the bottom of your purse to buy a Snickers you break a ten (or worse, go to the cash machine so you have a ten to break), it isn't saving. But if you save your change AND skip the Snickers, you are ahead.
I'm fond of saying there are three ways to "get more" money. Saving it using the sort of things Mrs. Pete is talking about - i.e. not spending it or spending less of it is one of the most practical ways that you see the best results from. Making more of it - by ebay, garage sales, a second job - that takes a lot more effort than not spending it, and often carries tax liability, but its a great way to get more money, particularly if you've already cut a lot of your expenses. Or hiding it - vacation club accounts or change jars or automatic deposits to savings, or rebate checks that go into a seperate account (part saving, part hiding), or buying Disney dollars. The ultimate in "hiding" money - the 401k account. Different ways are going to work differently for different people. Change jars don't work if your solution for no cash is the Visa card, but they work great for someone who operates on a cash basis with maybe a checkbook for backup - and no debit or credit cards in their wallet on a day to day basis. The type of person who - when they run out of money - its gone until they stop by the bank on payday.
