| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ adjective
: having or providing nothing to spare or having or providing barely enough especially of money or the necessities of existence : precarious
leading a hand-to-mouth existence
found employment in shoveling sidewalks, sawing wood, and other hand-to-mouth jobs — Dixon Wecter
steel users … report that they are operating on a hand-to-mouth basis with less than a week's supply — Newsweek