[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by berrypie

Hmm.... so what does すみません literally means?

Literally, it means "something doesn't end (well)" or "something is not completed". BUT it isn't often used for its literal meaning. As you know, we mostly say it to mean "I'm sorry."

I guess you can see the connectin there. Something didn't go as well as planned, so you are apologizing.

行かなくて済
I cannot make an example sentence yet, as I haven't completely understood what it means here. To me it means something like "have something done without going to somewhere" or "achieve something without going", is it correct?

Correct. You were originally planning on going someplace, but something happened and it saved you the action　of going. Let me give you some examples:

父がおすしをたくさん持ってきてくれたので、晩ご飯を 作らずに済んだ。
東京は電車やバスの路線が多いので、車を運転しなくて 済みます。
宝くじが当たったので、一生働かずに済む！
雪で授業がキャンセルされたので、テストを受けずに済 んだ。

I am doing a bit reading before sleep. Here is a sentence I don't quite understand: (from "the little prince")

だけれど、ぼくたちは、ものそのもの、ことそのことが、たいせつですから、もちろん、番号なんか、どうで もいいのです。

It's saying that things themselves are important, not the numbers (or perhaps names). In other words, it's saying that what counts is the content, not the looks.