{"id":344604,"date":"2026-03-24T02:31:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/344604\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T02:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:31:20","slug":"brutal-truth-in-sydney-mums-video-as-aussies-sweat-grocery-bills-rent-petrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/344604\/","title":{"rendered":"Brutal truth in Sydney mum’s video as Aussies sweat grocery bills, rent, petrol"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sydney mum has pulled the curtain back on the brutal reality many Australian families face as the cost-of-living crisis<\/a> continues to worsen.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe mum of three, who goes by K and runs the Instagram account @mylifebackinoz, confessed that despite earning two good incomes she and her partner “feel broke”.<\/p>\n

“Here’s what middle class actually looks like in 2026,” she wrote on a reel posted over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"The\ufeffThe mum of three confessed that despite earning two good incomes she and her partner “feel broke”. (Instagram\/@mylifebackinoz)<\/p>\n

“Mortgage rates went up 0.25 per cent, groceries cost more than our first apartment rent, petrol prices [are] more than $2.50 a litre, add on childcare and kids’ activities.<\/p>\n

“We’re not struggling, but we’re not comfortable either.”<\/p>\n

\ufeffK recently moved back to Australia after 14 years spent living abroad in the UK and said she has struggled with ‘reverse culture shock’, especially around the cost of living.<\/p>\n

But K’s family isn’t the only one struggling.<\/p>\n

That has put extra pressure on mortgage holders already struggling to make ends meet as essentials like groceries<\/a> and fuel surge in price.<\/p>\n

The cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages spiked by 3.1 per cent in the 12 months to January 2026, per the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).<\/p>\n

That’s on top of years of rising grocery prices that have hit Aussies in the hip pocket.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The cost of groceries has skyrocketed in the last six years. (Nine)<\/p>\n

An inquiry into price gouging and unfair pricing practices released in 2024 found the cost of cheese alone increased by 27.3 per cent between March 2021 and September 2023.<\/p>\n

The cost of bread rose by 24.1 per cent, milk got 22.7 per cent more expensive, and eggs also saw a 19.7 per cent price hike.\ufeff<\/p>\n

According to the inquiry, the total price of a staple shopping basket rose by more than 15 per cent in that time period.<\/p>\n

That’s on top of rising housing costs, which have left many Aussies struggling to make rent.<\/p>\n

The national median rent leapt from $420 per week in 2020 to $650 per week in 2025, marking the lowest level of rental affordability on record.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the national median house price has hit $1.28 million, making homeownership an impossible dream for many families.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Aussies also have the fuel crisis to contend with<\/a> at the moment, which has seen the cost of petrol soar to more than $2.50 a litre in some locations.<\/p>\n

Diesel hit a record three dollars a litre in parts of the country over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Add the cost of raising a child \u2013 upwards of $200,000<\/a>, according to some research \u2013 on top and it’s no wonder some families feel like they’re falling behind.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sydney mum has pulled the curtain back on the brutal reality many Australian families face as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-344604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}