living lean
Budgeting very tightly
Living lean is maintaining a lifestyle with minimal excess—spending carefully, avoiding waste, and keeping only what's necessary.
The phrase often describes financial discipline: After the layoffs, we've been living lean.
It can also suggest streamlined operations in business: The startup succeeded by living lean until they found their market.
Unlike "living poor," living lean implies intentional restraint rather than deprivation.
- frugalSparing with resources
- minimalistOne favoring bare essentials
- sparseThinly scattered or distributed
- thriftyPrudent with resources
- budgetPlan for spending
making ends meet · austere · streamlined · simple · no frills · economical · tight budget · scrappy · DIY ethic · tight · bare-bones · stretching · belt tightening · scrimping · hustle · paycheck · ramen · rice and beans
- frugalityfrugality, thrift, frugal, penny-pinching, economize
- saving moneybudget, savings, discount, sale, coupon
- povertypoverty line, poor, poverty rate, impoverished, generational poverty
- doing withoutfasting, rationing, skipping meals, going hungry, abstaining
living leanliving large
Indulging in excess
high living · splurging · conspicuous consumption · living beyond one's means · keeping up with the Joneses
living, lean, live, lives, lived, lively, livelihood, alive, outlive