First, we make ourselves accept the fact pinching a penny and stretching a buck are never easy, and especially when we first begin. But, as they say, nothing worth doing is stresslessly easy. Whether we're running a marathon or quitting smoking, we've mentally steeled ourselves for a lot of initial discomfort. We can do it, though, because we know that eventually that discomfort will turn to comfort, freedom, strength, confidence, and peace of mind. Pinching a penny and saving a buck operates (or should operate) on the exact same principles.
 The first and most difficult part of pinching a penny and stretching a buck is: making an exhaustive, disciplined budget. Exhaustive means that we figure out (a) exactly how much money we bring in each month, and (b) exactly what we spend it on. We're pretty sure to nail (a) down flat, but (b) may prove a little more elusive. Nevertheless, we get as close to exactitude as we can. Disciplined means that, once we know we make and what we spend it on, we start (sigh) making cuts. Cuts can apply to essentials, such as groceries, the heating bill, and so forth, and so-called non-essentials, such as eating out, going to the movies, and so on. Both, really, are essential, but the first is more so than the second, and therefore will probably, and necessarily, resist the stroke of our glitteringly economical blade much more tenaciously than the second.
 We're pinching a penny and stretching a buck. Let's say, for example, that we realize we can save 25 dollars a month by turning down the heat ten degrees at night add using blankets and comforters to make up the difference in coziness. We also realize that we can save 75 dollars a month by cutting potato chips and soft drinks from our grocery list, and eating out once per week instead of twice. Presto, we've got an extra hundred dollars a month to deal with. We've certainly pinched our penny. Now let's stretch our buck.
 Further whittling with our glitteringly economical blade reveals that we can save a whopping fifty dollars a month by changing from name-brand breakfast cereals, soups, aspirin, toothpaste, and so forth, to their "generic" but identical counterparts. We also discover that we've been spending ten extra dollars a month on replacement shaving blades because we've been rather slapdash with the old ones, discarding them while they were still useful because we wanted the comforting smoothness of a replacement. Our glitteringly economic blade has become ironic on us. Bless him, though-he's helped us stretch our buck. We now have 160 dollars more than we began with.
Budgeting, as we mentioned before, is difficult at the starting line, but the more we discipline ourselves to keep at it the more easy it becomes, and the more easy it becomes the more rewarding it becomes, and the more rewarding it becomes the more happy, un-anxious, free, energetic, and capable we become. Budgeting is the one sure way to save a penny, stretch a buck.