Make Both Ends Meet
Meaning
To live within one’s means.
Origin
In accountancy, meet used to be an adjective meaning equal or balanced. The end was the end of the financial year in which both profit and loss accounts had to be balanced: the ends had to be met.
Alternative: From tailoring or dressmaking, the amount of cloth available might only just be sufficient to complete the garment, so that it would wrap completely around the body, making the ends meet. A saying with this sense occurs in Polish.
