Which is correct?

Question

After leaving home, he tightened the purse strings because he didn't want to waste money he earned (himself / by himself).

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Answer 1

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After leaving home, he tightened his purse strings because he didn't want to waste money he had earned himself.

That would be grammatically correct, but few people use the expression 'tighten the purse strings' nowadays.  It's a bit 1950s.  At least, in the UK we'd be more likely to say, "I'll have to cut back a bit," or, "I'm going to have to watch my spending," etc.