From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtighten your belttighten your beltinformalSPEND MONEY to try to spend less money than you used to Businesses were tightening their belts and cutting jobs. → tighten
Examples from the Corpus
tighten your belt• The harsh years of the Depression were causing everyone to tighten their belts.• Most people have to tighten their belts a little when they retire.• Colleges have tightened their belts and are giving fewer scholarships than before.• Others will tighten their belts, downscale their programs, sell more t-shirts and look for local sources of revenue.• Governments and companies are forced to tighten their belts during a recession.• Let them tighten their belts like we have to. 