‘I’m on a six-figure salary but I am struggling to feed my family’

“This is not just about us, this is about how out of hand costs are getting. Can you imagine how tough it is for others if we are feeling a pinch?”

Alexandra Feiam

3 min read

February 7, 2024 - 12:57PM

Dad earning $125k struggling to provide for family, amid cost-of-living crisis

Family Life

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A family of ten are struggling to keep afloat amid the cost-of-living crisis, despite dad Don earning $125,000 a year.

Don and Kirsty Parkes are just like any other Australian family feeling the pinch and finding it hard to stay on top of their growing pile of bills and sky-high grocery costs.

Despite the NSW father earning an above-average salary as a factory supervisor, the family have had to make huge sacrifices just to get by.

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The Parkes family have been struggling to cope amid the cost-of-living crisis. Source: ACA

Dad on six-figure salary feeling the pinch amid cost-of-living crisis

“It's strange to have what I always consider to be a decent wage, and yeah, doesn't seem to stretch as far as it used to,” the 48-year-old told A Current Affair.

Don’s mind boggles at the thought of a family struggling on a salary of $125,000.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Each fortnight the family spends $1200 on groceries and $200 on petrol.

The NSW family managed to rustle up some savings but have had to break into the piggy bank to afford life’s necessities.

“We did at one point have some savings, but we've had to dip into all of that now to pay for so many things that have come up,” Kirsty said.

Extras like health insurance aren’t even a thought for their family and are now considered something the family will likely never have.

“We need to eat first, we need to clothe the children, we need to pay our bills, so they're the kind of things that get left by the wayside that I would consider more of a luxury,” the mum added.

Weekly shopping has also taken a belting, with the family barely able to afford fruit and veggies, meaning healthy eating is out of the question.

“Sometimes for us when we do order take out, it's still cheaper,” she said, adding a family pack at McDonald’s is a far more affordable option than making your own meal at home.

“It’s very American, isn’t it?”

Don and Kirsty are struggling to keep their head above water, despite earning an above-average salary. Source: ACA

“Can you imagine how tough it is for others if we are feeling a pinch?”

In an effort to reduce the financial strain, Don and Kirsty’s two eldest sons, 17-year-old Corey and 19-year-old Josh, have picked up jobs so they can contribute to the groceries and bills.

Josh said he’s more than happy to chip in and support his family but finds the current cost of living “ridiculous.”

“In an ideal world, I would have more of my own money, but for a roof over my head at a price a lot more affordable than I'd be able to do on my own, it's alright,” said his younger brother, Corey.

The Parkes family are one of the millions of families doing it tough amid the cost-of-living crisis.

“This is not just about us; this is about how out of hand costs are getting,” she shared on social media. “Can you imagine how tough it is for others if we are feeling a pinch?”

Kirsty, who runs Community Cafe that offers free food and clothes to the public in Hoxton, Sydney, said she has roughly 200 people coming in every day for a free feed.

“We've had secondhand shoes and clothing we put out, and it's available there for anybody who needs it,” she told ACA.

“We see people having physical altercations over clothes and these are not bad people, these are very friendly [and] happy, but when you're desperate, you make really bad decisions and people do, they lash out.”

She has urged the Australian government to do more about the rising cost-of-living.

“They need to find a way to actually kind of curb that or find some sort of ceiling where they go, 'OK, enough is enough,'” she said. “How do we do that?”