Idioms — Money & Business (Abuela Carmen's Wisdom)

B2 — vocabulary, reading, speaking, listening

Sofía: This new laptop cost me an arm and a leg.

Abuela Carmen: Then don't cut corners on the case — protect it, or you'll pay through the nose fixing it later.

Sofía: You always have a saying for everything.

Abuela Carmen: When you sold mangoes for thirty years, you learn every trick to make ends meet.

Common mistake: “The phone cost an arm and a leg, so now I only have one arm.” — Correct: “The phone cost an arm and a leg, so I can't afford anything else this month.”

Idioms about money describe cost, risk and survival using images (arms, legs, corners, noses) that have nothing literally to do with money — the meaning is entirely figurative.

Money idioms — literal image vs. real meaning
IdiomLiteral imageReal meaning
cost an arm and a leglosing body partsbe very expensive
cut cornerstaking a shortcut on a shapedo something cheaply/badly to save money or time
go bust / go undersinkinga business fails financially
pay through the nosean odd, painful imagepay much more than something is worth
make ends meettwo ends touchinghave just enough money to live on

Practice

  1. That new phone ___ Ben an arm and a leg. (cost, paid, made)
  2. Abuela Carmen says cutting corners always ___ more later. (costs, pays, goes)
  3. They ___ through the nose for that apartment. (paid, cost, cut)
  4. 'Cost an arm and a leg' means something is very cheap.
  5. 'Cut corners' means to do something poorly to save time or money.
  6. 'Go bust' means a business becomes very successful.
  7. Sofía doesn't ___ corners, even in a hurry.
  8. The business didn't go ___, despite the hard year.
  9. We didn't ___ ends meet that first year.
  10. Unscramble: that, new, phone, cost, Ben, an, arm, and, a, leg
  11. Unscramble: they, paid, through, the, nose, for, that, apartment
  12. Find the mistake: The phone cost an arm and a leg, so now I only have one arm.
  13. The laptop was extremely expensive. — Rewrite using 'cost an arm and a leg'.
  14. The company failed financially. — Rewrite using 'go bust' or 'go under'.
  15. Is it a safe bet to invest in her studio? — Answer with a short answer (Yes).
  16. Sofía cuts corners on every project. — Write the negative form.
  17. Have you ever paid through the nose for something? (short answer)

Listening

Sofía: This new laptop cost me an arm and a leg.

Abuela Carmen: Then don't cut corners on the case — protect it, or you'll pay through the nose fixing it later.

Sofía: You always have a saying for everything.

Abuela Carmen: When you sold mangoes for thirty years, you learn every trick to make ends meet.

Sofía: Did you ever worry the stand would go bust?

Abuela Carmen: Every single week. And it never did.

Reading

Abuela Carmen sold mangoes on the same corner for thirty years, and she says every idiom about money in English has a mango-stand equivalent in her own history. When Sofía complains that a new laptop cost her an arm and a leg, Abuela Carmen nods — she remembers years when a single bad harvest meant paying through the nose for fruit she used to grow herself. When people ask if her business ever nearly went bust, she just laughs: 'Every week felt like it might. And every week, somehow, we made ends meet.' Her one rule, repeated to Sofía more times than either can count: never cut corners on the thing your reputation depends on.

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