(answer to teh previous post) - This does not even matter, which "жаба" it is. It can be a matter for a separate topic. It's an interesting discussion but has no bearing on trying to find the best translation for the idiom.
Coming back to it: The problem I see with the whole situation is that in Russian, as I wrote before, but I can repeat, the word "жадность" that describes all of these situations, is universal, and may be used as "скупость", "стяжательство", etc, and when we go to translation into English we often get the first word that is used in dictionaries for "жадность", which is "greed", and try to use it.
We also use it to explain the meaning of "жаба душит".
In English every situation commands different words when it comes to "жадность". It may be stringy/avaricious/greedy/covetous/cheap/miser and some other words, I think, and they are not necessarily fully (or at all) interchangeable.
"Being cheap (about it)"/"feeling cheap", to me, is what best describes the idiom's meaning.
- I really want a new Ferrari, but I am being cheap about it. - Я жутко хочу новьиj Феррари, но жаба душит.