apretarse el cinturón
tighten your belt
The Spanish phrase 'apretarse el cinturón' directly translates to 'tighten your belt' in English. However, it is not usually used in a literal sense. Instead, it is often used as a metaphor to mean reducing one's spending or living within a tighter budget. This phrase likely originated from the idea of having to tighten one's belt during times of food scarcity, symbolizing austerity or hardship.
Example sentences using: apretarse el cinturón
La economía se ha desplomado, es hora de apretarse el cinturón.
The economy has crashed, it's time to tighten our belts.
The sentence signifies that due to a worsening economy, people should be prepared to make austerity measures and save money.
Todos en nuestra familia van a tener que apretarse el cinturón si queremos viajar a Europa el próximo año.
Everyone in our family is going to have to tighten their belts if we want to travel to Europe next year.
This phrase is used to convey the idea of making a collective effort to save money, usually implying budget cuts or spending less on non-essential items.
Apretarse el cinturón ha sido necesario desde que perdí mi trabajo.
Tightening the belt has been necessary since I lost my job.
This phrase is used to express the speaker's need to save money or reduce spending due to a change in their financial situation, in this case, losing a job.