make ends meet

Fig. to earn and spend equal amounts of money. (Usually in reference to a meager living with little if any money after basic expenses.) I have to work at two jobs to make ends meet. Through better budgeting, I am learning to make both ends meet.

to have enough money to pay for your basic expenses To make ends meet, she runs a day-care center out of her home.

to have just enough money to pay for the things that you need My wages were so low that I had to take a second job just to make ends meet.

Manage so that one's financial means are enough for one's needs, as in On that salary Enid had trouble making ends meet. This expression originated as make both ends meet, a translation from the French joindre les deux bouts (by John Clarke, 1639). The ends, it is assumed, allude to the sum total of income and expenditures. However, naval surgeon and novelist Tobias Smollett had it as "make the two ends of the year meet" ( Roderick Random, 1748), thought to go back to the common practice of splicing rope ends together in order to cut shipboard expenses.

To manage so that one's means are sufficient for one's needs.