tightened one's belt
Cut back spending
To tighten one's belt is to reduce spending or consumption during difficult times, from the image of cinching a belt tighter when you've lost weight from eating less.
After the layoffs, everyone had to tighten their belts.
The phrase often appears in political and economic contexts: The government asked citizens to tighten their belts during the recession.
- economizingReducing expenditures deliberately
- budgetingAllocating funds systematically
- living within meansSpending less than earned
- penny-pinchingExtreme reluctance to spend
- pinching penniesObsessive spending restraint
efficiency · rationing · scaling back · cutting back · adjustment · thriftiness · frugal living · austerity · hard times · lean times · conservation · cost-cutting · sacrifice · doing without · downsizing · bare bones · solidarity · compromise
tightened one's beltsplurged
Spent lavishly
splashed out · broke the bank · indulged · lived beyond one's means · overspent
tightened one's beltlived beyond one's means
Spent more than earned
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