精打细算
jīng dǎ xì suàn
meticulous planning and careful accounting (idiom)
精
jīng
essence
打
dǎ
a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打傘|打伞[da3 san3] "to hold an umbrella", 打電話|打电话[da3 dian4 hua4] "to make a phone call", 打針|打针[da3 zhen1] "to get an injection", 打手套[da3 shou3 tao4] "to knit gloves", 打氣|打气[da3 qi4] "to inflate")
细
xì
thin or slender
算
suàn
to regard as