Some days, Teresa Hetherington isn't sure she can afford to go to work.
Fuelling the hatchback she uses to travel from client to client has become so expensive, she often has to choose between putting $20 of petrol in her car, or, eating.
The home care worker, who lives in the New South Wales Hunter region, says the days at the end of her pay cycle are "hair raising".
"Sometimes I go to the park on top of the hill near my place and scream because I am so frustrated and so angry," she said.
Teresa is one of a growing number of people in the state trying to keep their heads above water as inflation reaches its highest levels since 1990 and wage growth stagnates.
Both major parties have made it clear the rising cost of living in New South Wales is the number-one issue for voters ahead of next month's state election.
Despite more than two decades of experience in the home care industry, Teresa, 50, says her salary is so inadequate, she's taken a second job in a local clothes shop.
"I absolutely love my job and my clients but we simply can't function without having something else to try and boost our incomes and in a booming sector, it's insulting," she said.
"By the end of the fortnight I have to choose between using that last little bit of fuel to continue working or whether I'm going to call in sick for a couple of days because I can't afford to buy petrol."
The Reserve Bank last week raised interest rates by 0.25 of a percentage point and governor Philip Lowe noted "further increases" would likely be needed over the months ahead.
It's a daunting proposition for Teresa.
"We're barely scraping by and barely able to make the mortgage payment let alone do all those wonderful things people call having a life," she said.
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Real wages are going backwards
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that, nationally, inflation means real wages are going backwards.
It's a trend leading economists expect to continue until 2024.
The most recent Census data on median personal incomes showed that, in New South Wales, people in the state electorates of Fairfield and Cabramatta are battling the most sluggish weekly wage increases.
Between 2016 and 2021 their weekly incomes went up by only 12 per cent.
The seat of Blacktown — where the median weekly wage went up by 18 per cent in the same period — isn't far behind.
And, that's where Lanie, who works as a cleaner, is feeling the pinch.
The 44-year-old earns $22 an hour and is living off a credit card.
Her day starts at 5am at a local high school where she works with three others to scrub, mop and vacuum the entire campus.
She returns in the evening to do the same thing.
She says cutbacks at the company she works for have left her hustling harder than ever.
"We only have one vacuum to carry from place to place and in every classroom we only have eight minutes to do everything," she said.
"When we go home we don't have a life anymore ... I don't even have dinner, I just shower and go to sleep."
Lanie's husband Ian is also a cleaner but sometimes only gets one or two hours of work a day.
They had to start using a credit card to cover daily expenses like groceries and bills, but now, rent is going on there too.
"What worries me the most is how long we're going to pay this credit card because it keeps adding, adding and adding," she said.
"I have the stress of the job and then the financial stress so I don't really want to focus on it but honestly, our life is tough."
Working out what to sacrifice next has become a daily routine, and, Lanie can no longer afford to send money back to her family in the Philippines.
Taking time off to travel home for the funeral of her brother who died last month was out of the question.
"We are really underpaid ... it's time for the government to listen," she said.
Voters sceptical about promises
There's been plenty of high-profile industrial action in New South Wales over the past two years.
Teachers, nurses and transport workers have all gone on strike.
In response, a cap that had limited public-sector wage increases to 2.5 per cent annually was raised to 3 per cent for this financial year.
Labor is promising to scrap the ceiling if elected next month.
Both major parties have made pledges to ease cost of living burdens on people in New South Wales.
The government has promised to slash energy bills by $250 if re-elected and recently launched a $500 million toll subsidy program.
Last year they passed significant stamp duty reform which gives first home buyers the choice of paying a smaller annual land tax.
Labor has promised to slash stamp duty for first home buyers on purchases up to $800,000 and reduce it for homes up to $1 million but is yet to announce policies on energy and tolls.
Rodney Smith, a professor from Sydney University's School of Social and Political Sciences, says the major parties will likely make a "lot of noise" about cost of living.
Actually easing the burden on people, however, is harder.
"The main economic policies are set federally, so what state governments can do is really at the margins," he said.
Sydney-based single dad Andy Leonard, who works five jobs, is sceptical about the election promises.
"I don't think the state government can fix anything ... it's more what the Reserve Bank is doing," he said.
"Back-to-school vouchers are great, but it doesn't feel like it makes much of a dent."
Andy works as an actor, writer and voice over artist, as well as at a gin distillery.
He also sells wine and assists with a friend's business to make ends meet.
"I do a lot of my jobs at night when my son Orlando is asleep," he said.
"I feel like you have to have your hands in a lot of pies, otherwise you won't keep going. "
Andy's situation is compounded by his debt of $1.5 million, which comes from two mortgages in the country's most expensive property market, and, court bills from a divorce.
"I'm generally a happy person but it's certainly difficult," he said.
"The biggest thing I lose sleep over is the looming date of when the fixed interest rate on my mortgage finishes because buying a lottery ticket every week is not really much of a savings plan."
When that happens, he will have to come up with an extra $820 a week.
His plan is to rent his property out and move to a share house.
"I do worry with the cost of living that at some point I'll have to work even more and spend less time with my son," he said.
While there's no data on how many people in New South Wales work multiple jobs, the ABS says 2.4 million people nationally held two or more in the 2019-2020 financial year.
According to the ABS, average household debt grew by 7.3 per cent nationally in 2021-2022, to be more than $260,000.
The Bank of International Settlements estimates Australians have among the highest levels of household debt in the world.
Teresa, who often has to rush between her two jobs, said it's not a sustainable way to live.
She wants a different future for her son, Tyler, who is now also working as a carer.
"We want a government that actually walks the walk instead of talks the talk. I don't want a pat on the head, I don't want a voucher, I want reforms."
