living beyond means
Spending exceeding income
Living beyond means is spending more money than one earns, typically by accumulating debt or depleting savings.
The phrase usually carries judgment—implying recklessness or self-deception about one's financial reality: They were living beyond their means for years before the foreclosure.
The opposite is living within one's means.
- overspendingExceeding one's budget
- spending spreeBout of extravagant purchasing
- debtMoney owed another
- robbing Peter to pay PaulSolving problems by creating others
- credit cardsBorrowed-money payment tools
buy now pay later · credit limit · maxed out · bankrupt · financial hole · lavish · extravagant · splurge · shopaholic · keeping up with the Joneses · paycheck to paycheck · house poor · drowning · bills · collectors · foreclosure · repossession · overleveraged
- money mistakesoverspending, impulse buying, gambling debt, debt spiral, no savings
- money mindsetsfrugal, thrifty, generous, stingy, greedy
living beyond meansfrugality
Economical resource management
thrift · fiscal responsibility · penny-pinching · economizing · financial discipline
living beyond meansausterity
Enforced economic stringency
minimalism · simple living · tightening one's belt · cutting back · downsizing
living beyond meansliving within means
Spending less than earned
living below means · underspending · making ends meet · breaking even · financial solvency
living, lived, lives, lively, livelihood, outlive, relive, beyond, means