The theory people have always told us makes a lot of logical sense: save a quarter in a working week for every dollar, and you’ll put away $1.25 guaranteed. The same goes with the idea that if we abstain from buying our favorite drink from the local cafes, we’ll come away with a lot of money.

We’ve heard that money saving method before. However, do small increments of cash really make a difference in the big picture? And does this really help to make our lives better?

Frugality definitely has its place and is still a very solid way to save on money. By cutting back on the things that are not at all useful to daily life, the ability to save rapidly rises. As prices rise, it pays to adjust to a simple lifestyle, so as not to depend on the luxuries that can easily sneak their way into people’s lives. If, for instance, a couple is able to save $20 every time they go out on a date, then it just might add up to a tidy sum in the long term.

At the same time, for a lot of people, $10, $5, $1 sometimes hardly makes a difference in a personal budget. They can be crucial when paying taxes, footing a restaurant bill or for paying small debts you owe people. But at the same time, it doesn’t always translate to a whole lot more money.

According to blogger Adam Baker of ManVsDebt.com, he argued not for a forced percentage of spending. That’s what he called, to paraphrase, the “Doesn’t-inspire-you” factor. He said that while it may be nice to save on expensive lattes everyday and eventually come away with a millionaire within the next 40 or so years, it asks questions: what’s the point of having a million when “40 or so years” comes along?

“Stop thinking 40 years in advance,” Baker writes. “You could be dead by then.”

Instead, one alternative approach is not so much putting our small expenses aside and putting it away. What is advocated instead is to ask the question: “Does this inspire me?”

When we frame expenses in terms of the value they add to our lives, it can make a lot more sense to save or to spend for them, depending on the situation. A guy who is really into poetry may not be able to resist buying those rare volumes by Virgil. The same goes for the homemaker who may have found the perfect set of knives to use in the kitchen. They may sound frivolous when one considers how “throwaway” they may have treated their money.

Yet, the other side of that coin is how these people put their money in what can be deemed as ‘Personal Investments’. By spending for these services or goods, they don’t become frivolous, wasteful expenses. Instead, they become valuable to the buyer. They become a part of their personal growth, and in turn, become a more meaningful investment.