Will a latte a day really keep riches at bay? Or is there an alternative to accumulating wealth by cutting back on the small pleasures of life?

His nonfat grande lattes. Her hour-and-a-half massages. Their Tuesday-night carryout sushi.

Over the course of a year, these recurring expenses add up to a few thousand dollars. Cut them out, conventional wisdom goes, and you’ll soon be living in a villa in Bellagio with the money you’ve saved.

But say you like your lattes. Is there a way to build wealth without scrimping on life’s little pleasures?

Big salaries and big returns don’t amount to anything if you spend it all. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up the everyday expenses that make your life a delight.

In fact, sweating the big stuff might be the most efficient way to save. Here are seven big-ticket savings approaches. Any one of them will help you salt away more cash than would skipping a whole year’s worth of lattes.
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1. Get your next car for half off.
A well-maintained used car is a great savings tool, because nothing depreciates faster than a new car. In fact, the average used car goes for less than half the price of a new one.

One attribute that seems to recur in self-made millionaires is that they don’t buy new cars. They might buy a high-end luxury car, but for $40,000 with 20,000 miles on it, not for $85,000 new.

A new Mercedes S500, for instance, is priced at $87,000. You can get an ’02 model for $59,000. That’s a $28,000 savings.

So let someone else pay tens of thousands of dollars to drive a car off the lot. It would take a lotta lattes to add up to that savings.
 

2. Get rid of bad debt.
About three-quarters of Americans carry debt.

Some of that is good debt—the mortgage on your house, for instance. It’s good debt because it not only nets you a tax deduction, but you can make a higher return on your money by investing it in the market than by using it to pay off your home loan.

Then there’s bad debt. A rolling balance on your credit card tops that list. With the average credit-card holder paying 13 percent interest, it doesn’t take a huge balance to eat up a lot of money that you could otherwise invest.

Instead of relying on credit cards, take out an equity line on your home to cover any short-term borrowing needs.

When you make the move to stop paying double-digit interest to credit card companies, you free up a lot of money that you can stash away. More important, you accomplish that without affecting your lifestyle.
 

3. Don’t stre-e-e-e-e-e-etch out your home loan.
You start out with a 30-year mortgage. Then you refinance to take advantage of lower interest rates—and get another 30-year mortgage.

Do that a few times over the life of your home loan, and instead of hosting a mortgage-burning party when you’re 55, you’re still paying house payments well into retirement.

Every time you refinance, shorten the term of your loan with the goal of getting rid of that debt. One objective might be to pay off your mortgage before you retire so you can free up that monthly payment for cash flow.

But isn’t that mortgage good debt?

No debt is good debt if you don’t need to be paying it. Even with the tax deductibility, you’re still getting only 30 cents on the dollar and spending 70 cents on the debt. The only time it makes sense to have mortgage debt is if you are using the leverage to earn more in other investments. Of course, that strategy does carry more risk.
 

4. Buy only the life insurance you need.
When Kloster’s wife, Meg, quit working, the family took out term life insurance to replace her group policy. They got $500,000 worth of coverage for $380 a year.

Whole life would have cost three times that.

Life insurance is a tool to protect against something, to replace a stream of income. But people get drawn into expensive life insurance policies as investments.

Your best bet: Buy term and invest the difference.
 

5. Don’t be a gearhead.
A cell phone, DSL line and different cable channel for every day of the year can make your life easier, more efficient and more fun.

But honestly, how many cell phones do you need?

When you have a cell phone in your pocket and another one in your car, you’re not only paying for superfluous equipment, you’re doubling up on your monthly bills.

So take another look at your gear. Determine what’s adding value to your life . . . and what’s just adding to your monthly tab. Then drop the latter and enjoy the former.
 

6. Don’t buy mortgage insurance.
If your investments won’t cover the mortgage after you die, purchase term life insurance to pay off your bills. Mortgage insurance is expensive and often unnecessary.

The only exception would be if you have a pre-existing health condition that would keep you from getting life insurance.
 

7. Skip extended appliance warranties.
Companies that sell extended appliance warranties do so for a profit. Instead of forking over your potential investment capital to them, check out Consumer Reports and buy the appliances that require the fewest repairs.

Even if you do end up scheduling a fridge fix, you won’t pay for it until you need it.

Saving for the future is essential. But living a life you love now is important, too. Look for ways to sock away savings without scrimping on your lifestyle. Save until you feel it. But don’t save until it hurts. Click here for more information on saving and investing.