Many Canberrans are finding it difficult to keep up with the increased cost of living, as inflation and interest rates continue to rise.
Among the people struggling the most include students, parents and the elderly. So we asked some of them what they do to keep costs down.
Food pantries offer help
Community food pantries provide either discounted or free food to people in need or on a tight budget.
Chris Wong is an international student at the University of Canberra who has been using the UCX food pantry for almost a year.
The University of Canberra food pantry feeds around 600 students each week, providing food staples for students who are struggling or on a tight budget.
Wong said using the food pantry allows them to get supplies to make meals for multiple days and snacks to complement their weekly grocery shopping.
"They have lots of variety of food, you have pasta, spaghetti and the pasta sauce for it, bread, or even the dry food area, like flour and rice, and some dal as well, which is great for people to home cook, and also milk," they said.
"They also do provide free stuff that doesn't count with points, things like eggs, vegetables, sometimes some more breads as well and sometimes meat and fruits.
"The food pantry has been like a great help and saves me from managing my weekly grocery shopping.
"I store up a lot of food at home mostly as well. I just don't want to spend too much money and it really saves a lot. I barely do much grocery shopping."
While the UCX food pantry is only for University of Canberra students, there are also community service providers like Community Services #1 in Narrabundah and Communities at Work in Tuggeranong and Gungahlin.
Travel on public transport
Council of the Ageing ACT chief executive Jenny Mobbs said it was cheaper to use public transport as the price of fuel went up.
"I think when people aren't working, or they're finished work and have retired, and they're on a fixed income, which many people are, that's a difficulty for them," she said.
"Their costs are going up, foods gone up, fuel has gone up and I know that we are seeing more and more people use public transport, because of the cost of fuel and running a car. We know that because we issue the seniors MyWay card here. So there's been an increased usage."
Explore discount cards
About 65,000 elderly Canberrans use the ACT Seniors Card, getting discounts for a whole range of things from services to food.
Permanent residents of Australia residing in the ACT aged 60 years or over who work less than 20 hours per week in paid employment can apply for an ACT Seniors Card. Ms Mobbs said seniors can often get discounts at many places but either aren't aware or don't ask.
"It's a matter of them knowing what they can ask for and, in fact, being brave enough to ask sometimes. People don't always have to see a sign up but they can ask and see if they can get a cheaper cup of coffee if they are out," Ms Mobbs said. "People are entitled to the discounts on the discount directory, they can actually pick it up at any ACT library, or from here.
"So that's one way that they can save and we actually add new businesses to that every week. I know at the markets there's a particular day that they can get discounts at all the markets."
Use buy nothing groups
Buy nothing groups are hyper-local Facebook groups where people post things they are giving away for free. You can snag anything from food to clothes and household items, all for free and in your suburb.
Planning prevents impulse
Mum Rachel Sirr suggested people plan ahead to avoid impulse purchases.
"Packing lunches, making sure that you save in advance for expenditures like your car servicing and your rego, and even having the envelope systems and using cash can work very well, individually pack snacks, rather than just buy the prepackaged snacks," Ms Sirr said.
"Another good tip is like make your own dog food, because it's cheaper and it's healthier. So you can add your own veggies, use the pet grade meat and add rice and then it's a fraction of the cost of the gourmet dog food."
Repair rather than replace
The Canberra Environment Centre has a repair café where volunteers can help repair broken items, like jewellery, clothing, small appliances and wooden objects. The Recyclery provides tools and volunteers to help repair bikes and is open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday 11am to 2pm.
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