How Sydney families are coping with cost of living crisis

The cost of living crisis is hitting Sydney families hard, with parents having to go to extreme measures to save a little of bit extra money.

Single mum Jayla England with her kids Jayce (13) Bobby (10) Lily (6) Taylor (8) and Georgina (11). Picture: Richard Dobson

Jayla England carefully squeezes shampoo and conditioner for her family of six into small bottles.

She pours in as much water as possible, then shakes until the thick lotion becomes a watery soup.

Nearby her children line up in front of the shower, ready to cycle in and out of the water.

It’s easier for her two youngest kids, aged six and eight.

They are still young enough to share a bath, saving on water. They will wash with watered-down soap, shampoo and conditioner and dress in second-hand clothes.

Ms England herself will go without a shower – anything to save money.

Life never used to be like this. There was once a time when the kids would spend their weekends bowling, going to the movies or other fun activities.

Those days are now a distant memory.

Ms England is one of the millions of Australians battling the cost of living crisis.

“Our food shop has doubled, we can barely afford to eat let alone feed our cats,” she said.

When she cooks, she will make cheap food like curried sausages – one of the only things she still finds relatively affordable.

It’s a game of timing. She adds the sausages, cooks the meat, and then quickly turns off the gas. She adds the rest of the sauce and then turns the heat back on.

When money is this tight, every second of wasted gas counts.

Families are doing anything to save extra money.

Every day it seems she is making a new sacrifice.

Her kids no longer dance or take swimming lessons.

She’s told her kids that Santa isn’t real, unable to afford to maintain the illusion of a pile of presents at Christmas.

“I feel like I am robbing them of their childhood. I had to crush that magic, that innocence,” she said.

“I can’t afford to get a Santa stack of stocking fillers. I need to save that money for necessities.

“I want them to have childhood memories of doing dance and making friends, but it is becoming too expensive.”

The single mum from western Sydney, who is a disability support worker, says she is struggling to get ahead of mounting bills that come with children, groceries and maintaining a home.

Some weeks, Ms England spends 95 per cent of her pay cheque on rent alone.

She’s started mapping out when to use the car, and checking the weather forecast to see what days she and her kids can walk to school instead of driving.

She’s not alone. When The Saturday Telegraph asked a group of more than 130,000 Australian mums what extreme measures they were taking to save money, the answers flooded in.

More than 400 parents opened up, revealing the extreme sacrifices they have been forced to make.

One Sydney mum revealed she has begun showering at work to save money on ballooning water bills. It comes as Sydney Water revealed last month that the company is seeing a record number of customers seeking bill assistance.

Another mum admitted she had opted to have a tooth pulled out because it was cheaper than the filling and crown the dentist recommended, while dozens more confessed they were skipping the dentist altogether.

Hundreds of parents said they had stopped seeing a doctor and buying medication with one person commenting: “I am talking to my doctor to come off medication. I’ve asked to come off my heart meds and antidepressants. I haven’t seen a cardiologist in over two years.”

The answers were vast and varied. All came from a desperate need to save every spare cent.

“Lately I’ve started emptying water bottles into the kettle rather than down the drain and washing my clothes in the shower rather than washing in the laundry sink …” commented one.

“Adding water to full cream milk to turn it into skim milk and getting twice the amount,” added another.

Hundreds of parents admitted to skipping meals entirely and just eating their kid’s leftovers.

“I use the nets fruit comes in as scourers for the kitchen,” commented another.

For parents Cath and Adam Osborne, who live in the Blue Mountains, providing for their four kids means a changed life.

“You have to be really selective on activities you wouldn’t think twice about doing before, especially over the last 18 months,” said Mr Osborne.

“We shop for sales, getting things like gifts on sale, rather than purchasing things full price. You are doing a lot more time and research into getting things on sale.”

Andrea Jancic is the admin of popular Facebook group ‘Mums on a Budget’.

Angela Jancic is the admin of the Facebook Group Australian Mums on a Budget.

She has watched as her group has exploded with members desperate for advice on how to survive in the current economic climate.

“I started it off as a fun thing to do because I am actually really good at budgeting. It just spiralled. In the last 60 days I have approved 943 posts,” she said.

All are posts made by mothers seeking financial support and advice.

“People are posting about literally everything. People are moving back in with their parents and renting out their house because they can’t afford their mortgage anymore,” Ms Jancic said.

One western Sydney mum of four who wished to remain anonymous, told The Saturday Telegraph: “I have always been conscious about my money and I have always had savings or money for travel in the past. But it’s never been this bad. I felt I had more disposable income as a uni student 20 years ago.

“My kid’s sport is chosen on what I can afford, not what they are good at or what they want to do. During birthdays gifts come from Facebook Marketplace freebies.

“This Christmas, my kids will get a shared gift of Disney+ for the year. There’s no bikes, Xboxes or switches her.”

Another mum, from Brisbane, said she is struggling to make ends meet despite seemingly healthy salaries.

“My husband earns over 100k a year ($1800 a week) and myself around 700 a week, we cannot survive and have $100 left by theend of the week. All we spend on is petrol, rent, bills and groceries,” she said.

Originally published as How Sydney families are coping with cost of living crisis