Meaning & use
pinching your pennies
Last updated
“pinching your pennies” is a form of “pinch pennies”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
Being very careful with money and spending as little as possible, usually because funds are tight.
Grammar: The possessive matches the subject: she is pinching her pennies.
Patterns
- pinch pennies
- pinch your pennies to do something
We're pinching our pennies this month so we can afford the trip.
He's been pinching his pennies since he lost his job.
Pinching your pennies at the grocery store can add up to real savings.
Word forms
| base form | pinch pennies |
|---|---|
| third person singular | pinches pennies |
| past tense | pinched pennies |
| -ing form | pinching pennies |
Common combinations
- start pinching pennies
- After the rent went up, they started pinching pennies.
- have to pinch pennies
- Students often have to pinch pennies.
- pinching pennies to save
- She's pinching pennies to save for college.
- been pinching pennies
- We've been pinching pennies all winter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- economize
- Economize is formal and general, while pinch pennies sounds homely and stresses small, careful savings.
- scrimp
- Scrimp suggests going without things because of lack of money, whereas pinch pennies can mean just being thrifty.
- tighten your belt
- Tighten your belt means cutting spending across the board after money gets short, not just watching small coins.
- be frugal
- Be frugal describes a habit or character, while pinch pennies describes a stretch of tight spending.
Opposites
Word family
- penny noun
- a small coin of low value
- penny-pincher noun
- someone who spends as little as possible
- penny-pinching adjective
- unwilling to spend money
- pinch verb
- to squeeze between finger and thumb
Commonly confused: pinching your pennies or penny-pinching?
pinching your pennies vs penny-pinching
Penny-pinching is an adjective and often critical, meaning stingy, while pinching pennies is usually neutral.
Practice
Rent is high this year, so we're ______ to save for the holidays.
Choose one answer.
Pinching pennies means spending very carefully. The other options are not idiomatic or mean something else.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pinching your pennies”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.