From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishscrimpscrimp /skrɪmp/ verb [intransitive] SAVE MONEYto try to save as much money as you can, even though you have very little They scrimped and saved for years to buy their own home.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
scrimp• How I hate your mean, scrimping, grabbing, greedy guts.• All those years of scrimping may have been needless.• Facing a financially bleak Christmas, he scrimped together every last penny to afford presents for the four boys.scrimped and saved• My parents scrimped and saved to pay for my education.Origin scrimp (1700-1800) Probably from a Scandinavian language 