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penny-wise and pound-foolish

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penny-wise and pound-foolish
Prov. thrifty with small sums and foolish with large sums. (Describes someone who will go to a lot of trouble to save a little money, but overlooks large expenses to save a little money. Even in the United States, the reference is to British pounds sterling.) Sam: If we drive to six different grocery stores, we'll get the best bargains on everything we buy. Alan: But with gasoline so expensive, that's penny-wise and pound-foolish.
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For instance, it seems penny-wise and pound-foolish to have to import the best fixed-wing firefighting aircraft from both eastern and western Canada.
However, any proposal built on replacing the corner pharmacy with the post office is penny-wise and pound-foolish.
 
 
 
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