living within means
Spending below income
Living within means is spending no more than one earns, avoiding debt by matching expenses to income.
The phrase usually appears with a possessive: They've always lived within their means.
Someone who fails to do so is living beyond their means.
The expression implies financial prudence and self-discipline—not necessarily frugality, but awareness of limits.
- budgetingAllocating funds systematically
- tight budgetSeverely limited funds
- frugalSparing with resources
- thriftyPrudent with resources
- cutting cornersReducing effort improperly
savings · pay yourself first · modest · no frills · practical · sensible · making ends meet · debt-free · financial freedom · careful · restraint · discipline · delayed gratification · simplicity · prudent · economical · stretching · penny-pinching
living within meansliving beyond means
Spending more than earned
overspending · deficit spending · spending spree · living paycheck to paycheck · keeping up with the Joneses
living within meansextravagance
Excessive, wasteful spending
profligacy · conspicuous consumption · prodigality · excess · overconsumption
living, within, means, lives, lively, livelihood, outlive, relive, meaning