Inflation's sting: Will you become a more savvy shopper?

 Inflation finally pushed Mark Hawkes to a breaking point.

So a few months ago, he canceled his gym membership.

“I can do workouts at home,” especially isometric exercises, says Hawkes, who is 62 and lives in Madison, South Dakota.

He also plans to downgrade his family’s cable TV service significantly and may even cut the cord, relying on over-the-air TV and streaming services.

At the same time, he spending $2,400 to remodel his bathroom, a project that wasn’t exactly a must-do.

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“For categories where they find less expensive alternatives that fulfill their needs…they are doing that,” says Tamara Charm, a partner at McKinsey & Co., which surveys consumers and analyzes retail sales data.

At the same time, she says, “They have the economic means” to open their pocketbooks when they feel the compulsion.

“We really didn’t need to but my wife wanted to,” he says. “It’s a little dated.”

Two years after pandemic-related product and labor shortages pushed inflation to a 40-year high of 9.1%, the American consumer has become a study in contradictions. Households are broadly cutting their discretionary spending and making a decided turn toward the practical. But they’re still buying things they really want, analysts say.

Out? Clothing, furniture and dining out.

In? Vacations, concerts and jewelry.

.What are consumers buying the most?

Americans are paring back the kinds of goods purchases that dominated their outlays while they hunkered down at home during the pandemic

 and cutting loose for experiences. But “they are particular about what (experiences) they are spending on,” Charm says.

While all age and income groups are scrimping and following these patterns to some extent, Charm says, lower-income households have been hit harder by inflation and are making basic choices as they juggle rent and  otheressentials. Credit card debt hit a record high late last year, though consumers paid off some of it in the first quarter. Delinquencies, mostly among lower-income segments, are at the highest level since 2011, according to the Federal Reserve.