Experience financial hardship (4,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
feel the pinch
'experience financial hardship' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for feel the pinch that I've seen before include "Suffer through lack of money" , "be poor" , "Pretty girl in Italy might" , "Experience financial hardship" , "Experience poverty" .)