Like the song says, “little things mean a lot”.

When we make the decision to reduce and/or eliminate our debt loads, our initial instinct is to go whole hog.

It’s the New Year’s Resolution mentality in action.  No one says that they’re going to find a way to lose 30 pounds over the course of 6 months at the beginning of the year.  They think big.  They want to lose 60 pounds in 3 months instead.  They come up with a draconian calorie-counting scheme, a workout regimen that would be perfect for an all-pro NFL cornerback and prepare to remake themselves completely in record time.

Oh, and they fail.  Why?  Because old habits die hard and the best of intentions have a way of getting steamrolled by them.

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It’s the same thing with money and personal finance decisions.  If you wake up one morning hellbent on completely eliminating your debt through intense austerity measures and weekly belt-tightening, you’re going to get off to a great start for about a week before everything falls apart and you retreat into your comfort zone.  It’s human nature.  You can have an academic understanding of money and what to do with it, but that logic and reason aren’t enough to win out over habit and the emotional/psychological history that goes along with it.

There are exceptions.  Some people get whipped into a frenzy of Dave Ramsey-esque “gazelle-like intensity” and make massive strides quickly.  Most of us, however, don’t.  We might be able to get there, but it’s going to require some initial successes that don’t turn our world completely upside down from square one.

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In that spirit, I’d like to show how an average person who may not be prepared to make a giant move can still put a real dent in his or her debt load–almost without noticing any changes.  I’m not going to detail every little thing I did and how I did it.  That’s not the point.  It’s about finding the easy adjustments you can make in your own life and putting them into place.  It works.  I can vouch for this.  I’ve been through it.

After a few dozen New Years Resolution-style plans to solve my financial woes within short timeframes, all of which failed, I noticed that I could make a difference once step at a time.  While some may want to go whole hog and won’t find enough motivation in “baby steps”, I think my story provides proof that anyone can start improving their finances.  I’ll also add that seeing the progress was enough to encourage me to “add on” other approaches to reducing my debt.  For me, finding the right track required avoiding the boom and bust of BIG PLANS.

Here are a few examples…

I’m saving over $100 on Dr. Pepper over the course of a year.  Instead of picking up a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper every week at the grocery store, I started reaching for the store brand version.  Somehow, the makers of Dr. Pop have avoided a lawsuit while making a solid reproduction of the real thing.  I save right around $2 on each 12-pack and I don’t suffer at all.

I saved around $200 with Red Box.  I like to watch a few movies every week.  I was relying on my cable company’s pay-per-view system to check out new releases (so convenient).  Then, I noticed that a store right on my morning route to work had one of those Red Box machines.  Instead of spending $5 or more on PPV, I started spending $1 for my rentals.

I saved $200 by paying attention.  I’m not the world’s most organized guy and I had a nasty tendency to make late payments on some accounts.  It wasn’t a matter of not having the money, it was a matter of oversight.  I spent an hour creating a good calendar online and made a point of looking at it at the beginning of every week and of adding new bills to the schedule.  No more late charges and fees.  Plus, it feels good to be organized and to know that I’m no longer damaging my credit numbers month in and month out.

I saved $100 when I slept.  I like to run the air conditioning in the summer and I enjoy a toasty residence in the evening.  However, I reached the conclusion that I really wouldn’t notice a minor temperature change while I was sawing logs.  I adjusted the thermostat at bed time and saved about $100 for the year even though the per unit energy prices were higher than usual.

You get the idea, right?  Little things.

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Here’s the trick, though.  If you aren’t paying attention to these changes, you won’t realize the benefits.  You have to make a point to notice what you’re saving over your typical expenses and then you must actually put those savings to productive use.  Pay down that Visa card, don’t spend your recaptured bucks on an extra dinner out, right?  I keep a little running total of the ways I’m saving and I make sure I use that money as part of my debt reduction plan at the end of every month.

It’s making a big difference and I’m not intense like a gazelle or over-optimistic like a post-holiday weight watcher.  I’m just paying a little attention here and there.  It’s getting easier, too.  And that’s beginning to make me feel like I can make even more positive adjustments.