(n) An extended period of self-inflicted personal austerity, usually occurring in the days and weeks prior to payday. Typically signified by a cessation of non-essential spending and/or scrounging behavior. For example, where an individual would usually drink four pints at the bar on a Friday night, during a scrimpathon they might drink less, drink something cheaper (like water) and/or lean on their friends to buy their drinks for them.

Derived from the words "scrimp" and "marathon".

When you eat dirt for the first time and leave your family to build a shack in the woods