keep body and soul together

Idioms  

1. Stay alive, support life, as in He earns barely enough to keep body and soul together. This expression alludes to the belief that the soul gives life to the body, which therefore cannot survive without it. Today it most often is applied to earning a living. [Early 1700s]

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Example Sentences

Presumably he managed to keep body and soul together before you two started dating, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that he’d find a way to continue living if you two ever really broke up.

From Slate

They were doing the best they could to keep body and soul together.

From Salon

"It is designed to keep body and soul together, not designed to pay for fodder," he said.

From BBC

“I find it ironic that a governor who wants to cut red tape … is now establishing all this red tape for working poor people and poor people with disabilities and poor people who are struggling to keep body and soul together.”

From Washington Times

For generations of people who came through the Columbia Steak House on North Limestone during the 34 years that Smitty worked there on and off, he was the man with the ready smile, an encouraging word and, sometimes, an on-the-house cheeseburger that helped starving students keep body and soul together when funds were fragile.

From Washington Times