Dave Matthews has been forced to cut back on his grocery shopping to cope with the rising cost of living.
But a one-off, doubled cost-of-living payment being dished out by the South Australian government will provide some relief to low-income earners and pensioners like Mr Matthews.
The public housing tenant is among one in four South Australian households that have begun receiving payments of up to $449 to ease cost-of-living pressures.
"It is nice to have that bit of buffer zone, not needing to look at it every week and work out every single cent, knowing that worst comes to worst, I've got that money in the bank," Mr Matthews said.
Kate Fox, the executive director of the South Australian Financial Counsellors Association, said cost-of-living pressures and soaring housing expenses had seen more people seeking advice from financial counsellors.
"This issue isn't going away, expenses are up and we don't know for how long," Ms Fox said.
"There's always need for more support for people and a one-off financial assistance is really important but there does need to be an ongoing support for people."
Ms Fox said raising the rate of the JobSeeker allowance and payments to the lowest income earners would make a "big difference".
Under the concession scheme, home owner-occupiers will receive $449 and renters will get $224.60 per household.
Payments for renters have also been brought forward from March after Adelaide pensioner Lyndal Johnson, who struggled to make her fortnightly payments last, wrote to the government in July.
Social Services Minister Nat Cook said the government had been fulfilling its election promise to double the cost-of-living concession.
"We really have seen an increased burden of cost-of-living pressures to households throughout Australia over the past couple of years, escalating to a point where people can be struggling to not just put food on the table, but to achieve any kind of connection to their community," she said.
"This is the biggest single concession payment that has been delivered to the pockets of South Australians in history.
"We have put more than $78 million into bank accounts [of South Australians] in the past week and they are continuing to be paid so that they can then avoid dreadful decisions and choices that nobody should have to make."
