shoestring

At its most basic, a shoestring is the lace that holds a shoe in place. But in everyday English, the word is also often used to talk about money. If someone runs a project on a shoestring or works with a shoestring budget, they are trying to do it with very little money and very few resources. A small company might start on a shoestring, or a traveler might see the world on a shoestring by choosing cheap places to stay and simple meals. The word often gives a feeling of getting by with just enough and making careful choices all the way.

A shoestring is, first of all, a lace used to tie a shoe. This is the direct, physical meaning of the word. You might talk about a loose shoestring, a broken shoestring, or bend down to tie your shoestring before you start walking.

The word is also very common in an idiomatic sense connected with money. In this use, "shoestring" describes a situation where the budget is extremely small. If a film is made on a shoestring, if a family lives on a shoestring, or if a business starts with a shoestring budget, there is only a small amount of money available, and every cost matters. This use suggests limits, pressure, and the need to be careful, but it also often suggests cleverness and determination.

You will most often see the word in phrases like "on a shoestring" and "a shoestring budget." A student might travel across Europe on a shoestring. A new restaurant might open on a shoestring budget, using secondhand furniture and a very small staff. In these examples, the meaning is not about an actual lace. It is about having barely enough money to keep things going.

So the word has two main uses: the literal lace in a shoe, and the figurative idea of a very tight budget. The second use is especially common in news, business, travel, and everyday speech. When you hear it, the speaker usually wants to show that something is being done with very little money, but still with effort and care.