There are three things Fran Spears loves most: her grandchildren, her dog Scarlet, and going to the beach.
But when it comes to getting out of the house, even a five-minute drive to the beach is becoming harder to afford for the 69-year-old pensioner, who lives in Kingston, Hobart.
"Cost of living is becoming unbearable … it cannot keep going the way it is going, because it is going to ruin people's lives," she said.
Recently, Ms Spears has had to become even more strict with her budget.
At the start of each fortnight she receives $1,133.40 from the government, which includes her disability support pension, rent assistance, and an energy supplement.
The first thing she pays when it lands in her account is her rent, which has recently increased to $750 a fortnight.
It now takes up almost 70 per cent of her fortnightly budget.
At the moment, she's paying $40 a fortnight for electricity as the mornings and evenings become cooler.
Groceries are $145. There's no room in her budget for fresh vegetables.
Instead, Ms Spears buys frozen vegetables and some chicken breast. She cooks them up into 12 or 14 meals and freezes to eat during the week.
"I never buy mince, it's always too dear," she said.
"I use more vegetables and less meat I've noticed recently."
On top of those essentials, there's also petrol, medical bills, phone bill, providing for her dog, and getting the lawn mowed, which she pays for monthly.
At the end of the fortnight, what's technically meant to be left is $52.40. But it never really works out that way.
"A couple of weeks ago, I had $9. So you can't do anything, because you don't even have something in there in case an emergency happens.
"It takes me nearly a year to pay off lay-bys to give my grand kids a birthday present.
"I can go into Coles or Woolworths any day of the week and see somebody in front, in the line, who is worse off than me.
"I've seen older people that are 80 and you watch them at the meat counter and they'd love to buy those chops but they have to buy those sausages. And they buy two of everything."
When she needs to pay her car registration or other big bills, she dips into her superannuation, something she didn't imagine she'd be doing in her 60s.
Ms Spears is university-educated and would prefer to be working, but said there was hardly anything out there at the moment for her, and has encountered ageism during hiring processes.
She takes casual contracts when she can, but she is unable take advantage of working from home arrangements because she can't afford internet connection.
Fran Speers's income (fortnightly) |
$1,133.40 |
|---|---|
Rent |
$750 |
Groceries |
$145 |
Electricity |
$40 |
Petrol |
$35 |
Dog |
$20 |
Medical bills |
$40 |
Phone bill |
$28 |
Lawn mowing |
$23 |
Savings |
$52.4 |
People 'not sending kids to school' due to fuel cost
Ms Spears wants people to know she's not starving, but she knows it's not just her struggling to make ends meet.
High on her election wish list is a solution to the housing crisis, to help ease the pressure on other parts of her budget.
Financial counsellor with Anglicare Tasmania Fiona Moore agreed one of the biggest pressure points at the moment was rent.
"Rent is a huge problem, it's been a problem for a long time, it's just getting worse. Benefits are not going up, income doesn't appear to be going up and landlords are just increasing rent," she said.
"You top that with petrol going up, it's gone up astronomically in the last couple of months, and then the food as well is going up.
"The thing I'm hearing is that people are not sending their kids to school because they haven't got food to provide their lunch so kids are missing out on school one or two days a week, I'm hearing that fairly frequently.
"Or they don't have the petrol to take them to school."
She said the cost of living was most pressing at the moment for those on a low income or government payments.
Ms Moore said while it was not possible in everyone's circumstances, the most practical things people can do to help bring down some of their living costs were to grow vegetables, take public transport and walk if possible, and shop around for the best deals on utilities.
