to strive beyond one's means to keep up socially and financially with others in one's social circle or neighborhood (from the name of a comic strip by Arthur R. Momand)
"We livin' off mud pies and piss water, and you spend our life savings on a sable coat?" (20 MINUTES OF HO-SLAPPING COMMENCES). "Bitch, quit trying tokeep up with the Joneses."