pay the bills
Meet financial obligations
To pay the bills is to earn enough money to cover basic living expenses—rent, utilities, food.
The phrase often contrasts practical work with passion: The day job pays the bills, but music is what I live for.
It implies necessity over fulfillment, the baseline of financial survival rather than prosperity.
- salaryFixed periodic employment payment
- make ends meetManage financially, just barely
- making a livingEarning enough to survive
- incomeRegular monetary receipts
- livelihoodMeans of earning income
meal ticket · adulting · cost of living · breadwinner · check · wages · working stiff · bank · due · earnings · rat race · pay · utilities · budgeting · cash flow · late · paycheck to paycheck · nine to five