on a shoestring
With minimal resources
On a shoestring means with very little money or resources: They started the business on a shoestring.
The phrase suggests making do with minimal funds, stretching every dollar.
A shoestring budget is barely adequate for the task at hand.
The image evokes something as thin and insubstantial as a lace.
- tight budgetSeverely limited funds
- thriftCareful use of resources
- penny-pinchingExtreme reluctance to spend
- pinching penniesObsessive spending restraint
- budgetingAllocating funds systematically
makeshift · cost-cutting · bootstrap · mom and pop · improvisation · austerity · workaround · ingenuity · scarcity · affordability · cutting corners · economizing · low-cost · low budget · downsizing · scrappy · bare-bones · bare minimum
spending style/approach
on a shoestringlavishly
With excessive generosity
extravagantly · opulently · luxuriously · sumptuously · splurging
shoe, string, shoestring, shoes, strings, strung, stringy, stringed, shoed