Caring for eight children on a property south-east of Darwin wasn't part of Kristie Hoskins's financial plan.
"Events happen, and they can change your life in a moment," she said.
Now tasked with looking after a mix of biological and step-children aged between one and 25, including a set of triplets, Ms Hoskins said she had become skilled at making one meal extend across many lunch boxes.
But as the cost of petrol, groceries and rent continue to skyrocket, she said budgeting was becoming more difficult.
"The maths doesn't work anymore — at all," she said.
Like many Australians, Ms Hoskins said she hoped today's federal budget would include some relief to cope with the rising cost of living.
"Everything has gone up, everything at the supermarket," she said, adding fuel prices were "horrible".
"What used to be 80 cents is now $1.20, and what used to be $5 is now $6."
Her story is a familiar one to Pete Chandler from the hunger relief charity, Foodbank NT.
Before the pandemic, Mr Chandler said Foodbank was delivering 30,000 meals a month from its warehouse in Berrimah, near Darwin.
"That punched up to 50,000 meals a month during the pandemic," he said.
"We figured it would settle down afterwards but we haven't seen any settling down whatsoever."
Mr Chandler pointed to the Northern Territory's remote location and sparse population as factors that contributed to rising living costs.
"Any time there are supply chain issues in the territory, that adds to the cost of groceries and of course, that adds to the cost of living for Territorians," he said.
"The moment you've got transport issues, you've got a real pressure on the price point."
The federal government is expected to address cost-of-living in the budget with a temporary cut to the fuel excise and one-off cash payments of at least $250 for pensioners and other welfare recipients.
Housing affordability a major issue
Adding to peoples' financial stress is a shortage of affordable housing in the Northern Territory, according to Kelly Gulliver, a housing support manager at CatholicCare NT.
"People are often forced to rent properties that are over their budget," she said.
"That means that in order to have a home and put a roof over their head, they have to miss out on other things."
Ms Gulliver said she wanted the federal budget to include more funding for housing, including transitional housing to help people on the edge of homelessness, and subsidised housing options for people on income support payments.
"We are all really just one pay check away [from entering homelessness]," she said.
"It can be something as simple [as] losing a job, having a relationship breakdown, even becoming ill and needing to seek health and medical treatment."
Peter McMillan from NT Shelter said rent in some cases had increased by $150 per week or more during the pandemic.
Mr McMillan said he hoped the federal government would help alleviate rental stress by increasing the rate of Commonwealth rent assistance.
"For many years we've known that individuals and families that are paying around 30 per cent of their income on rent are in rental stress," he said.
"It's time to address that, especially in an environment where we've got rising costs of living, and not just for rent but for other aspects of the household budget."
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver the federal budget today.
