Like many mothers-to-be, Chloe Heath was financially diligent before having her baby Scarlett.
But pretty soon a carefully prepared budget was tossed in the bin along with the dirty nappies and wet wipes.
Being a new mother and managing a household in a cost of living crisis means enjoying small wins.
"I never thought I'd be excited to see broccoli go from like $5 to $1.60 or whatever it was," Ms Heath laughed.
Canberra's inflation reached 6.3 per cent in the quarter leading to June.
For Ms Health and many other Canberrans, the high cost of living is less of a pinch and more of a punch.
"Everything is so expensive. It's just no relief at all," she said.
"You have to be so careful with every dollar [you] spend."
Home not so sweet
Housing is one of the highest costs for Canberrans across the socioeconomic spectrum.
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate to 2.35 per cent on September 6, adding extra pressure on mortgagees.
The portion of income required to service a Canberra mortgage increased 26 per cent in March 2020 to 37 per cent in June 2022, CoreLogic data showed.
Ms Heath and her partner agreed to buy a new townhouse while interest rates were low, and are waiting for the build to be completed.
"Watching the interest rates go up is terrifying," she said.
Mortgage holders should expect the cash rate to rise at least a further one per cent, research director for RateCity Sally Tindall said.
Ms Tindall said many people weren't expecting rates to rise so quickly, and we may not yet have seen the full impact.
"The monthly repayment increase doesn't actually hit straightaway," she said
"We've had five hikes in five months, and some people may think that they've already seen all of those rises when [they haven't]."
Canberra also has the highest median rent asking price of any capital city.
Renting a house as of July this year would set you back a median of $759 a week, while a unit costs $573 per week.
This is compared to a national median of $601 for a house and $456 for a unit, according to SQM Research.
As Ms Heath waits for her house to be built, she is renting a Phillip apartment.
She was recently faced with a possible rent increase, which she said would have forced her back to work.
"[I was] quite lucky that I was able to negotiate with the owner and real estate to delay that," she said.
"Because we just couldn't afford an extra $30 a week in rent."
Pensioners Richard and Ena Swann said they felt lucky to be in social housing, paying less than $400 a week for a two-bedroom unit in Macquarie.
"It can be tight, but at least they've got a reasonable rate of rent that [we've] got to go to cope with," Mr Swann said.
"But anybody who's in a private rental, that wouldn't be the case."
Electricity bills exacerbate the cost of housing, and with ACT tenants the coldest in the country, turning on the heater can add up.
The cost of electricity increased by 141 per cent in the first three months of 2022, the Australian Energy Market Operator said.
Mr and Mrs Swann said they would rug up during winter.
"Often we'll go to bed, or wrap blankets around ourselves [to keep warm]," Mrs Swann said.
Canberrans going hungry
The weekly or fortnightly grocery shop can leave many Canberrans cash strapped.
Food and non-alcoholic drinks in the nation's capital cost 2.1 per cent more in the three months to June.
Food can also be one of the most elastic parts of a budget, meaning many people skip out on fresh and healthy food to make ends meet.
Mr and Mrs Swann buy groceries from the NationsHeart Community Hub in Belconnen.
"Packaged or processed foods, even they are getting expensive now," Mr Swann said.
They have also stopped buying meat.
The couple also volunteer for the hub. Mrs Swann said many women with children appeared to struggle.
"I've met young women with children crying on my shoulder many times. They just don't know what to do," she said.
"Most of them their husbands won't help. So there they are, stuck with children, and nothing to feed [them]."
Around one in 10 Canberrans - or 38,000 - live in poverty, CEO of the ACT Council of Social Services Dr Emma Campbell said.
"We hear stories of parents going without [food] so that they can feed their children or older people going without so that they can keep their house warm," she said.
Vegetables were 7.4 per cent more expensive in Canberra than the previous quarter.
Unfortunately for shoppers, supermarket goods are projected to cost 5.5 per cent more in the 2022-23 financial year, Deloitte Australia research showed.
Vegetables will probably become cheaper in spring and summer, Shaun Lindhe from AusVeg has said.
He said flooding in southern Queensland's growing regions this winter drove up the price of vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, spinach and green beans.
"As we head into the spring and summer period ... we would expect to see the availability of crops increasing," Mr Lindhe said.
However, Australian Food and Grocery Council CEO Tanya Barden said it could take 18 months before inflation eases off significantly.
"Consumers should expect that prices will likely remain higher than they were before the pandemic," she said.
Worker shortages and increased production costs also impact the supply of Australian-grown fresh produce.
Transport
One sign Canberrans are facing living pressures is the one just above the bowser, on petrol station fuel signs.
This is mostly caused by the war in Ukraine, with Russia responding to sanctions by restricting oil supplies.
The fuel excise tax, cut in half by 22 cents a litre by the Morrison government in March, will be fully reinstated on September 29.
And while the Australian Consumer Competition Commission has been tasked with ensuring companies don't overcharge consumers, the tax is expected to be fully passed on.
In the last quarter, Canberra transport costs rose 2.7 per cent - mainly because fuel prices rose by 5.6 per cent.
Ms Heath said with the warmer weather, she has been walking a lot, and timing her outings to limit driving.
University of Melbourne economist Professor David Byrne said global oil prices are dropping.
"That deceleration will actually be in the next few quarters, [and will] probably put downward pressure on petrol or fuel [costs]," he said.
"But we're still at a much higher price level than what we were [in 2020]."
While Dr Byrne is optimistic in the short term, he warned: "we're still in very turbulent, uncertain times."
"It doesn't seem like the war in Ukraine is going to slow down anytime soon, and we're also entering into the European winter, where Russia will have leverage to cut gas supplies to Europe," he said.
Dr Byrne advises Canberrans to use fuel apps such as PetrolSpy to compare prices, take advantage of independent service stations and work from home when possible.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
