tightens one's belt
Cuts personal expenses
To tighten one's belt is to reduce spending or live more frugally, typically in response to financial hardship or anticipated lean times.
The image is of cinching a belt tighter when there's less food to fill the belly: With layoffs looming, everyone's tightening their belts.
Belt-tightening is the noun form.
- thriftinessHabit of avoiding waste
- penny-pinchingExtreme reluctance to spend
- pinching penniesObsessive spending restraint
- counting penniesObsessing over small amounts
- budgetingAllocating funds systematically
efficiency · austerity · rationing · downsizing · sacrifice · doing without · self-discipline · cost-cutting · cutting corners · economizing · saving · cinching · stoicism · hard times · lean times · frugal living · living lean · optimization
tightens one's beltsplurges
Spends lavishly on treats
lives large · indulges · splashes out · lives beyond one's means · goes all out
tighten, tightens, tight, tightly, tightness, tighter, tightest, tightening, ones