Wiktionary
pay the bills
vb. (context idiomatic of a job English) To provide enough income to sustain one's lifestyle.
Usage examples of "pay the bills".
Live theatre was an ancient and peculiar taste, roughly on par with listening to Gregorian chants, and it didn't pay the bills.
But even in Hollywood you had to pay the bills, and you had to show a profit.
Every month my bank receives eighty thousand francs from Geneva-somewhat more than enough for me to pay the bills.
I could go underground for a while, call Emily, arrange for her to take care of the cat, pay the bills.
The least she could do was pay the bills and bring her account and checkbooks up-to-date.