I did not know that yesterday!

A shoestring budget isn't a positive thing. As anyone who works for a start-up company knows, the expression refers to running an operation or business with little money and few perks.

While nobody seems to know the phrase's exact origin, Mavens' Word of the Day offers an interesting theory. In the late 1800s when a shoestring broke, the remaining one was often used to bundle items. This thrifty gesture may have contributed to the phrase's meaning and popularity.

The New York Public Library's "Ask a Librarian" column offers a slightly different explanation. A shoestring budget may have originally meant "that one's resources are limited to the laces of one's shoes." Depressing, but logical.

Whatever the shoestring budget's history, the phrase is now understood by all. We always assumed it was a simple reference to how shoestrings are just barely above the ground.