Kelsey Latimer has struggled to afford a festive Christmas for her three-year-old daughter after seeing a jump in the price of food and toys this year.
"It's becoming a joke," Ms Latimer said from Carindale shopping centre in Brisbane.
"After bills, I only have about $50 left each week so I don't have the money to give everyone presents.
"I can only afford to buy for my daughter and that's it."
Ms Latimer said her rent had gone up earlier this year, which also tightened her spending this festive season.
"My groceries used to cost around $150 and now it's $200," she said.
"Everything has gone up, so I've really had to budget."
Despite skyrocketing cost of living pressures, Queenslanders have been spending up big this Christmas with major retail stores heaving with last-minute shoppers.
In the 10 days leading up to Christmas, the National Retail Association (NRA) predicts more than $21.5 billion will be spent nationwide.
"That's a 3.9 per cent increase on last year's spend," NRA Interim CEO Lindsay Carroll said.
But Ms Carroll said people's shopping habits had changed.
Not only have they kicked off their Christmas spending earlier than recent years, they have "been shopping more often but with smaller purchases," she said.
Families struggling into the new year
While there has been greater spending, there has also been greater need.
The Salvation Army has reported an increase of up to 15 per cent in the number of Queensland families needing support this Christmas.
"With the cost of groceries going up – food, petrol, rent – all of those sorts of things … you know if you're at the bottom end that's really impacting you," Salvation Army Secretary Simon Gregory said.
"We're finding people coming to us who we probably haven't spoken to before or who have probably never needed support before."
More than 40,000 donated toys and books and 1,000 food hampers will be distributed across south-east Queensland from the Salvation Army's Newstead warehouse by Christmas Eve.
Volunteers like Roya Khodabandehloo have been helping to bundle up the packages.
"I think a lot of families would be struggling at this time of year, so it really does feel good to help them out," Ms Khodabandehloo said.
Mr Gregory said the struggle often doesn't end at Christmas but extends right through the new year.
"After Christmas you move into the back-to-school period and people who might have struggled through Christmas … they land in January and the credit card debt has gone up," he said.
"So they often come to us to help get kids off to school — get uniforms, backpacks that sort of stuff… so again any help that can come through is greatly appreciated."
