{"id":3688409,"date":"2026-04-30T04:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/?p=3688409"},"modified":"2026-04-29T22:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:28:18","slug":"only-25-percent-of-consumers-say-their-cost-cutting-plans-still-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/consumer-insights\/2026\/only-25-percent-of-consumers-say-their-cost-cutting-plans-still-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Only 25% of Consumers Say Their Cost-Cutting Plans Still Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The clearest sign of consumer strain may not be what households are cutting, but how many different ways they are trying to keep up.<\/p><div\r\n\tid=\"article-paywall-overlay\"\r\n\tclass=\"d-none\"\r\n>\r\n\t<div id=\"article-paywall-content\" class=\"my-4\">\r\n\t\t\n<div class=\"wpcf7 no-js\" id=\"wpcf7-f2699550-o1\" lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\" data-wpcf7-id=\"2699550\">\n<div 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the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content \u2014 no additional logins required.\n\t<\/p>\n\t<div id='registrationContainer' class='container px-0'>\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"firstName\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"400\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-required form-control border-secondary\" id=\"firstName\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" placeholder=\"First Name*\" value=\"\" type=\"text\" name=\"firstName\" \/><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"lastName\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"400\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-required form-control border-secondary\" id=\"lastName\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" placeholder=\"Last Name*\" value=\"\" 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\/>\n\t\t\t<input class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-hidden\" value=\"\" type=\"hidden\" name=\"email\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"newsLetterChoice\"><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-checkbox me-1\" id=\"checkNewsletter\"><span class=\"wpcf7-list-item first last\"><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"newsLetterChoice[]\" value=\"yes\" checked=\"checked\" \/><span class=\"wpcf7-list-item-label\">yes<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"small\">Subscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"small lh-base\" style=\"font-size:.9rem;\">By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https:\/\/pymnts-com-develop.go-vip.net\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https:\/\/pymnts-com-develop.go-vip.net\/terms-conditions\/\">Terms and Conditions<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><input id='hiddenPath' type='hidden' name='path' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='userDeviceId' id='userDeviceId' \/><input type='hidden' name='pageTitle' id='pageTitle' \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<div id='formButtonRow' class='container mt-1 px-0'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p><input class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-submit has-spinner btn btn-dark text-uppercase py-2 px-5 small\" id=\"theSubmitButton\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"post_id\" value=\"3688409\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"source\" value=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/consumer-insights\/2026\/only-25-percent-of-consumers-say-their-cost-cutting-plans-still-work\/\" \/><p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"_wpcf7_ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"_wpcf7_ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_1\" name=\"_wpcf7_ak_js\" value=\"102\"\/><script>document.getElementById( \"ak_js_1\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );<\/script><\/p><div class=\"wpcf7-response-output\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"article-paywall-hidden-content\">\r\n\t\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is the central takeaway from\u00a0\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/study_posts\/generations-under-pressure-how-younger-consumers-are-coping-with-higher-living-costs\/\">Generations Under Pressure: How Younger Consumers Are Coping With Higher Living Costs<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0the latest PYMNTS Intelligence\u00a0Generational Pulse Report. Based on a survey of 2,747 U.S. adult consumers, the report finds higher living costs are a growing burden: 51% of consumers say daily expenses are difficult to manage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the more telling split is generational. Younger consumers are using more tools to manage cash flow, while older consumers tend to rely on fewer levers. The result: households adapting in real time, even as confidence in those strategies weakens.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The coping story starts with a shared baseline. Between 60% and 75% of consumers in every age group have cut daily spending. That\u2019s expected, given that grocery stress is nearly universal and housing, healthcare and savings pressures remain elevated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The divergence is determined by age. Older consumers lean on restraint, cutting expenses, delaying big purchases and absorbing the pressure where they can. Baby boomers and seniors are also the most likely to report taking no action at all: 25% say they have no coping strategy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Younger consumers are building something broader. Bridge millennials, millennials and Gen Z consumers are more likely to combine spending cuts with gig work, borrowing from family or friends, bill negotiation, buy now, pay later options and shifts in savings behavior \u2014 a layered financial patchwork that signals resourcefulness, but also a thinner margin for error.<\/p><div id=\"pymnt-4234383172\" class=\"pymnt-content pymnt-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 50px;\"><p style=\"text-align:center\">Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p><script async type=\"text\/javascript\" id=\"dianomi_context_script\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dianomi.com\/js\/contextfeed.js\"><\/script> \r\n<div class=\"dianomi_context\" data-dianomi-context-id=\"4329\"><\/div><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Key Findings:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50%\u00a0of consumers use two or three coping strategies to manage rising living costs, while\u00a016%\u00a0use four or more.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">23%\u00a0of bridge millennials,\u00a022%\u00a0of millennials and\u00a021%\u00a0of Gen Z consumers use four or more strategies, compared with\u00a08%\u00a0of baby boomers and seniors.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The share of consumers who say their coping strategies are extremely or very effective fell to\u00a025%\u00a0in January from\u00a034%\u00a0in October.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That last point is the warning sign. Consumers are not standing still. Many are taking action, and younger adults in particular are showing flexibility.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are cutting spending, seeking extra income and using payment tools to match expenses with available cash. But effort is no longer translating into control at the same rate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For banks, payment providers and FinTechs, the opportunity is practical. Consumers may not need another reminder to budget harder.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They may need clearer visibility into bills, better timing around recurring expenses, safer short-term liquidity options and payment plans that are easy to understand. Healthcare, groceries and housing are not occasional expenses. They are monthly cash-flow tests.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The positive reading is that households are engaged. They are watching expenses, changing behavior and looking for ways to adapt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The challenge for financial services firms is to meet that effort with tools that reduce complexity, not add to it. As higher costs linger, the next stage of consumer finance may be less about encouraging people to do more and more about helping them make the moves they are already making work better.<\/p>\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>\r\n\twindow.pymntsAllowedArticleCount = 2;\r\n\twindow.pymntsPostID = 3688409;\r\n<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The clearest sign of consumer strain may not be what households are cutting, but how many different ways they are trying to keep up. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content \u2014 no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1317530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9053],"tags":[11417,4954,65045,6369,13328,4935,9206,67601,133069,70065],"class_list":["post-3688409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consumer-insights","tag-consumer-finance","tag-consumer-spending","tag-data-brief","tag-economy","tag-featured-news","tag-grocery","tag-news","tag-pymnts-intelligence","tag-pymnts-news","tag-the-data-point"],"acf":{"suggested_titles":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Only 25% of Consumers Say Their Cost-Cutting Plans Still Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PYMNTS Intelligence finds consumer confidence in cost-cutting has declined as food, healthcare and housing costs stress household budgets.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/consumer-insights\/2026\/only-25-percent-of-consumers-say-their-cost-cutting-plans-still-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Only 25% of Consumers Say Their Cost-Cutting Plans Still Work | PYMNTS.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The clearest sign of consumer strain may not be what households are cutting, but how many different ways they are trying to keep up. 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