When I was new to Steemit, I never knew how important SP was. I made a blog post on my mistake of not saving my SP.  You can earn more just by having more SP alone. For instance, I have a problem where I pour my heart into my posts only for them to get ignored. Way back, I made a post on what not to say to someone with ADHD and it was ignored, no one batted an eye. I spend 20 mins on that post for nothing. Point is, had I kept my SP, I could have upvoted myself and got more in curation rewards when I upvoted someone else. You get curation rewards when you upvote someone else and you get a small % of their rewards. This is a great way to build your SP and get the payout when they get there's.  I know it's tempting to power down and go shopping, but you want to keep your SP. I would wait until you hit the thousands before powering down. Don't let your SP get to the point where your upvotes are worthless. I think you need at least 60SP for your upvotes to be worth anything unless it has changed. 
![counting-3125587_960_720.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYeVN6vky1iLWmTV8LXhkN3VdSGdwwooa1JHeu6Sdr2cV/counting-3125587_960_720.jpg)
If you are a new Steemer, save your SP! It will benefit you in the long run here on Steemit.