It’s a familiar feeling for many Americans： checking your bank account after a week of hard work only to wonder， “Where did my money go？” How many times have you told yourself that you really need to stop going out for that happy hour1 drink （or three）， that you shouldn’t have taken an Uber when you could have taken the bus？ All those miscellaneous expenses can really add up.

不少美国人都有类似体验：辛苦工作了一周，查对银行账单之后却纳闷“我的钱都花到哪儿去了？”曾经多少次告诫自己，该戒掉欢乐时光的那一杯（三杯）酒了，该乘坐公交的时候也不该老打车。这些杂七杂八的开销最终积少成多。

But for a country that loves to spend， spend， spend， the United States is not without its thrifters. For many Americans， saving money can be an art form. Clipping coupons， packing lunch from home and taking public transit are among the countless ways spending-conscious Americans try to curb their spending. Around the world， thriftiness is more ingrained in everyday culture， and many other countries fare much better than the United States when it comes to saving money. Here’s a look at spending and saving culture around the world.

不过，国民热衷于买买买的美国也不乏精打细算的行家。对很多美国人来说，省钱是一门学问。他们剪下报纸上的赠券，自带午饭上班，乘坐公共交通，精打细算的美国人就这么变着各种花样来节约开支。放眼全球，节约精神深深地植根于日常文化中，还有不少国家的人比美国人更精于此道。让我们一起来了解全球消费和省钱的文化。

Strength in numbers

人多力量大

A communal money-saving method that many Americans would consider novel is the tanda2， which is popular in Latin American countries and the Caribbean. It’s known by different names around the world， but its basic underlying idea is the same： when people work in tandem3 to save， everyone benefits. The system works in turns; a group of people each pitches in an agreed-upon amount to a collective pool during each turn on a specific day， which can be a payday， the first of the month， or any other stipulated time. Then， during the first turn one member of the group receives the pooled money as a payout， and then the next member receives all the money during the next turn， and so on. More money isn’t created， but it gives each person a boost every once in a while.

很多美国人会对叫做坦达的集资方式感到新奇，其实它在拉丁美洲国家和加勒比海地区广泛流行。尽管叫法不同，但世界各国都有与之相通的集资概念：大家搭伙攒钱，互利共赢。这是一种轮流运转的机制：一轮开始时，每位成员按约定金额在特定的某日（可以是发薪日、每月第一天或其他约定的日子）向资金池各自投入资金；投入完毕，第一轮筹集的资金由第一位成员收取，第二位成员则收取第二轮筹集的所有资金，以此类推。