This is the latest instalment of a Global News series called ‘On the Brink,’ which profiles people who are struggling with the rising cost of living. In this story, an ordinary Ontario family talks about their struggles to get by.
These days, Cheyenne Allen says her family must count every dollar they have just to get by.
The 34-year-old event planner and soon-to-be mother of two from London, Ont. says 20 years ago, owning a home and living off two incomes would’ve been stable.
But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, things have changed.
“I spent a lot of time in my 20s working two part-time jobs and going to school, and I was just making it,” she told Global News.
“Now I’m in my career, my husband has his career, he bought this house in 2019, and we were doing well, and then the pandemic hit.”
Allen said she and her husband, a boilermaker, bring in roughly $147,000 a year before taxes. With that income, she feels they should have more opportunities to be better off.
“It doesn’t go as far as it used to. It just doesn’t,” Allen said.
This situation isn’t unique to Allen and her family.
Moshe Lander, an economics professor at Concordia University, said over the past five years, Canadians’ buying power has seen a noticeable drop.
However, it’s been steadily declining since the 1980s.
Lander used the McDonald’s Big Mac as an example.
“If you earn $20 an hour and a Big Mac costs around $7, then you’re working for three Big Macs an hour equivalent. If, in the past, you were working for two Big Macs an hour, then it really doesn’t matter how many dollars you were earning; your purchasing power is increased because you can now buy more Big Macs with one hour of your time than you could in the past,” he said.
“What’s happened then is that essentially, the prices of the Big Macs have risen faster than the dollar amounts that we’ve earned at our job have risen, so the number of Big Macs that we can purchase has fallen.”
With the post-pandemic increase in the cost of living and a growing family, Allen said they stress about where each dollar is going.
The couple pays roughly $2,000 a month right now for a mortgage, but they also have condo fees that keep going up.
While on a reasonably low rate now, Allen said she is worried about their mortgage coming up for renewal in two years, right around the time her maternity leave will end for their second child.
“That’s kind of scary because that’s when I’ll have to be going back to work and looking at health-care costs for two babies, and it’s hard,” she said.
With a one-and-a-half-year-old and a second on the way, Allen said costs can quickly add up.
“I was lucky enough to be able to nurse my baby, so I hope that I’ll be able to do so with the second one because the price of formula is staggering,” Allen said.
With baby formula costing around $50 per week, Allen said it leaves some families deciding between what bills to pay and feeding their child.
While Allen tries to find deals, she said it can be hard to find good-quality baby items, even second hand, with everything feeling picked through.
Her daughter is currently in daycare part-time, at $600 a month, but the cost would be $1,000 a month if she were there full-time.
While she tried to get her daughter on a list for a $10-a-day childcare spot when she was five months pregnant, nearly two years later, she has yet to hear back.
Allen worries about what will happen when she returns to work after her maternity leave is over.
“It seems like we’re just one bill away from paying to go back to work. If we don’t end up hearing from one of the $10-a-day daycares, we’re going to have to seriously look at our options,” she said.
The 15th annual food price report, released in December 2024 by a partnership of four Canadian universities, predicts that in 2025, food prices will increase overall by three to five per cent.
The report says the average family of four is expected to spend $16,833.67 on food in 2025, an increase of $801.56 from 2024.
The report found that food affordability remains a major concern for Canadians.
It is a concern shared by Allen, who thinks the prices of essential items should be better controlled.
Allen said her family has started gardening and preserving food as one way to combat food costs, but with the impact the U.S. trade war is having, she is considering expanding her garden.
“People need food to live, people need water to live,” Allen said.
“And I think it’s a little extortionate to pay $6 for a little half a pint of blueberries.”
The fourth story in Global News’ relaunched On the Brink series is set to publish next Saturday.
If you have a story about the cost of living you would like to tell, please email us below.
