Literal meaning.

‘Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves’ is the kind of admonition to a virtuous and principled lifestyle favoured by Victorian moralists – the principle here being thrifty and careful not to squander money. In fact, the saying pre-dates the Victorian era by almost a hundred years.

In 1747 Lord Chesterfield wrote to a friend saying this:

I knew, once, a very covetous, sordid fellow who used frequently to say, ‘Take care of the pence; for the pounds will take care of themselves’.