hand to mouth
Just scraping by
Hand to mouth describes a precarious financial state where income is immediately consumed by basic necessities, leaving nothing for savings or emergencies.
Someone living hand to mouth earns just enough to survive, with each paycheck going directly to food and bills.
After losing her job, she lived hand to mouth for months.
The phrase can also function as an adjective: a hand-to-mouth existence.
No savings between wages
- subsistenceMinimal means of living
- scraping byBarely having enough
- strugglingExperiencing serious difficulty
- day-to-dayOccurring each twenty-four hours
survival mode · tight budget · poverty · hardship · uncertainty · instability · vulnerability · making ends meet
Satisfaction without delay
- no savingsLacking stored money
- short-termOf limited duration
- unplannedNot arranged beforehand
- impulsiveActing without deliberation
spontaneous · no safety net · depleted · exhausted · spent · consumed · urgent · pressing
paycheck to paycheck
No savings between wages
- subsistenceMinimal means of living
- scraping byBarely having enough
- strugglingExperiencing serious difficulty
day-to-day · survival mode · tight budget · poverty · hardship · uncertainty · instability · vulnerability · making ends meet · living on the edge
instant gratification
Satisfaction without delay
- no savingsLacking stored money
- short-termOf limited duration
- unplannedNot arranged beforehand
impulsive · spontaneous · no safety net · depleted · exhausted · spent · consumed · urgent · pressing · desperate
- hardshipshardship, adversity, struggle, misfortune, difficulties
- Global Povertymalnutrition, starvation, food security, clean water, dirty water
- fear reactionsscream, scared, gasp, terrified, flinch
- povertypoverty line, poor, poverty rate, impoverished, generational poverty
- Running Lowrunning low, in short supply, running out, dried up, at a premium
- subsistencefood, hunger, starvation, basic needs, sustenance
hand to mouthaffluent
Having abundant financial resources
wealthy · prosperous · well-off · comfortable · well-to-do
hand to mouthabundant
Existing in great quantity
plentiful · rolling in it · loaded · well-heeled · living large
hand, hands, handed, handing, handy, handily, handiness, handful, handiwork