Brits are struggling with the cost of living crisis, with many having to "watch every penny" but still running out of money and being unable to pay bills.
Millions of homes will see their household bills rise from tomorrow, with the biggest for most being energy.
From midnight tonight the 90% of homes on variable rate tariffs will see energy costs go up by 54% this year - of £693 for the average household.
Council tax and water rates are also going up, while petrol and diesel prices are at near-record highs.
Are you struggling with energy bills and happy for us to tell your story? Message mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
You may find your mortgage and mobile or broadband bill is also increasing from this month.
One Brit currently grappling with soaring prices is Natalie Parker, 35, who lives in Hampshire.
Natalie is a single mum to two children aged 17 and 11 years old, and works in a dementia care home. She also gets Universal Credit.
Natalie said: “As a single mum, money is tight. I literally budget to the penny, and so unexpected bills or large outgoings can be very difficult to manage. I simply don’t have any extra money and towards the end of the month I have run out of money before.
“I’m really worried about the rising living costs - it keeps me awake at night. I don’t have a partner or anyone else to help and so the responsibility is completely on me. It can feel overwhelming and scary.”
“As of April 1 my rent is increasing by £10 a week. In addition, my bills are increasing by £30 every month. So that’s around £70-80 per month extra that I will have to afford. I also have debt repayments each month, from when I got myself into debt years ago.
"Some months are very hard and, to be honest, I don’t know how I will manage with £70 less each month. The other day I turned on the kettle and could see my smart meter clocking the energy used so turned it off."
Natalie's employer is signed up to the Wagestream service, which lets her access up to 50% of her monthly salary early for a fee of £1.75.
"I use it to pay myself before pay day if I need to - if I’ve run out of money or if I have an unexpected bill," she said.
The cost of living is also affecting Josie Smith, 29, from Kent.
Josie, a mum of two and a Universal Credit claimant, said her household food bills had seen the steepest increases.
"The most for us has been our food bills," she said.
"We used to shop in Tesco but started going to Lidl. We didn't have a rigid budget for it but used to spend £80 a week at Tesco - which is also great as a mum because they can deliver or let you do click-and-collect in the store.
"But that weekly shop now costss £135, which is why we've started going to Lidl, where it's more like £100 a week - though we still have to do a top-up shop."
Petrol bills have also risen sharply, she added.
"It's crazy, it's gone up so much," she said. "We run two cars as my husband commutes. In 2016 it used to cost £35 to £40 to fill up my car, and now that's £70 to £75.
"I have been using mine less, but we're not going out as much. All of my family all live a long way away and I'm not seeing them as much.
"We're going to carry on as we were before but there will be certain cutbacks. We wont get takeaways anymore or do as much with the kids during the day - we're going to the park more to try to save money."
Sedra Badea, 32, who lives in Kent and works in hospitality along with her partner is also feeling the pinch.
She said: "My hours fluctuate weekly and so my wage varies each month. I find that this can make it difficult to manage my money, and some months I don’t have enough to cover my outgoings and have to dip into savings.
“The rise in living costs is worrying. At the moment, it’s just me and my partner that we have to pay for but with bills and potentially rent all increasing, our money has to stretch even further.
“Months where we haven’t worked many hours, or haven’t been able to top it up with overtime, creates a perfect storm and we will really notice the difference.
"We’re lucky that we have a bit of money in savings but we don’t want to constantly dip into that as it will run out and then we won’t have a safety net.”
