living within your means

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the practice of spending no more than one earns — maintaining expenditure at or below the level of one's income so that debt does not accumulate; living within your means is a cornerstone of personal finance prudence, associated with thrift, delayed gratification, and the long-term planning required to build financial security; the phrase is applied equally to households, businesses, and governments, and carries strong moral overtones in cultures that view debt as a form of imprudence or dishonesty; critics of austerity policies note that the phrase, when applied to government, ignores the macroeconomic argument that deficit spending can be self-financing during recessions by stimulating growth that increases tax revenues