live paycheck to paycheck

Verb

live paycheck to paycheck (third-person singular simple present lives paycheck to paycheck, present participle living paycheck to paycheck, simple past and past participle lived paycheck to paycheck)

1. (US, idiomatic) To have the entirety of one's earnings consumed by living expenses, thus having nothing left over to save; to make just enough (money, etc.) to survive; to scratch by.
   • But what does all this mean for the men and women who live from paycheck to paycheck? Prices have skyrocketed to boost the cost of living for the worker to about double the pre-war level.1948, George Morris, How to Make Your Vote Count: The Communist Position on the Issues and Candidates in the 1948 Elections, New York, N.Y.: New Century Publishers, →OCLC, page 4
   • Hector, who has worked at the Miramar since he arrived from Mexico ten years ago, would like to own his own home someday. "It's my dream," he says. But he can't imagine how he'll ever get there when his family lives paycheck to paycheck and can't put anything away for savings.1954, Dissent, New York, N.Y.: Dissent Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 2