Keep your head above water Neutral

To manage to survive or cope, especially financially, despite difficulties; to avoid being overwhelmed.

The expression comes from swimming: keeping one’s head above the water is the minimum necessary to breathe and avoid drowning. The image was extended to survival under pressure, especially when debts, expenses or work threaten to overwhelm a person. It implies a precarious balance rather than comfort or success. A business keeping its head above water is not necessarily profitable; it is simply managing not to collapse. English also uses drowning metaphorically in work and debt, reinforcing the contrast between being submerged and staying afloat. The phrase’s vividness comes from the universal urgency of breathing.

We’re just keeping our heads above water until sales improve.

She works two jobs to keep her head above water.

With rising rent, it’s hard to keep my head above water.