貯金 = to put money in the bank 節約 = to avoid spending money (i.e., to make food rather than eat out) Both of these are [漢語]{かんご} (Chinese words in Japanese). 貯金 follows a verb-object pattern. Thus, 貯(v) store 金(object) - money 節約 follows a duplication pattern: 節(v) -save 約 - save So you can do lots of things to 節約, but if you are talking about water, people say [節水]{せっすい} or about electricity [節電]{せつでん}. In those cases, it means "reduce use of X"