We all have found ourselves in a situation where we may have accidentally spent more money on something we probably didn't really need. Or, maybe we told ourselves we were going to put this next paycheck into savings but instead bought ourselves new shoes. It happens to the best of us, it's OK.

Something I have learned over this past year is that money adds up fast, and we need to take note of that.

When we become older, we are going to hate our younger selves for not paying attention to what we spent our money on. We are going to wish that we saved more money or used it on something that we can keep forever.

Saving money seems like it is an easy thing to do, but in reality, it might be one of the most difficult things to grasp our minds around. There is always something we need right this second, and instead of saving our money, we spend it on something we probably won't use next month.

What I have witnessed myself doing since I can remember is throwing away useless change. I have always told the cashier person to "keep the change" because I do not want to deal with it taking up extra space in my purse.

If it wasn't a dollar being given back to me, then it wasn't worth keeping. Boy, was I wrong.

When talking to one of my friends, she told me her parents had just left to go on a Caribbean cruise for a week and even had their own personal butler. The real shock to this story is that the entire vacation was being covered by 20 years worth of change her dad saved. For 20 years, her father has been putting all the extra change he had in this jar that has increased throughout the years. Instead of telling the cashier to "keep the change," he kept the change and put it in his jar.

The whole point of the story is to show people that saving money can be a really easy thing to do and that it adds up.

It is hard to see all the amazing things you can buy in the future with that saved money nowadays, but the possibilities are endless when you think about it. Yes, 20 years is a long time to save up money, but when the time comes and you are ready to spend that money, just think about all the things you could do with it.

A good way to save money without having to put it all towards savings is to put a little chunk of money into your savings every paycheck given to you. This way, you still have money to spend, but your savings account increases a little every time.

Money doesn't grow on trees and your mom isn't made of money either, so start saving now.

You'll be happy you did when you look back 20 years from now and you get to travel the world or buy a new house with that saved money.