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Waste not, want not

  1. If we don't waste what we have, we'll still have it in the future and will not lack (want) it.


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Idioms and Phrases

Wise use of one's resources will keep one from poverty. For example, I just hate to throw out good food—waste not, want not . This proverbial saying was first recorded in 1772 but had an earlier, even more alliterative version, willful waste makes woeful want (1576).

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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