'Times are tough right now': Waterloo region residents hunting bargains as cost of living rises

Making every dollar count From CTV Kitchener's Hannah Schmidt: Waterloo region residents are hunting for more bargains as the cost of living rises.

As the cost of living rates continue to rise, people are becoming more committed to track down the best bargains.

When it comes to smart spending, some people in Waterloo region are adjusting the way they live and shop to make ends meet.

As a single mom on maternity leave living in Cambridge, Monica Graham is feeling the pinch of the cost of living.

“It’s a lot to just be able to afford things for my baby, groceries have gone up [and] I worry about something happening to my car, I don’t have any car payments right now,” she said.

As the cost of day-to-day life continues to climb, Graham says her finances have taken a hard hit.

“I’m looking for work right now as well and I’m kind of wondering if salaries are going to be more and are going to compensate for the additional cost of everything,” she added.

Mitch Dalgard has set up a garage sale in front of his Kitchener home over the weekend in hopes of making some extra cash.

"Times are tough right now, we’ve got me working two jobs, my girlfriend’s doing baking on the side of babysitting five kids and looking after a newborn so when you have extra stuff sitting around, you gotta try to make ends meet," said Dalgard.

Dalgard says he’s seen an increase in the amount of garage sales popping up across the region as more people feel the squeeze of high costs.

“Grocery bills are $400 if you got kids and it’s just one of those things that nowadays is hard,” he said. “It’s hard to get by so you gotta make it work I guess.”

One financial planner says it seems everywhere people are turning, they’re paying more, and that means they have less to spend elsewhere.

“The ultimate outcome is cash flow has been reduced as the household level,” said Sunlife Financial Planner Darren Devine. “We are seeing that happen at the car lot, we are seeing that show up at the mall, we are seeing that show up at the travel agency and we’re seeing that show up at an example like dinners out.”

Devine says he’s noticed clients making lifestyle changes to try and save as much as possible.

“We’re seeing people pack more lunches and bring it into the office,” explained Devine. “Maybe once a week in the past you’d go out for an entertainment event, that type of stuff is really starting to fizzle out. Vacations abroad are being traded for a camping trip or something local.”

That is the case for Dalgard and Graham, both of whom resort to bargain hunting and selling items to make a quick buck.

“I’m more into the Facebook Marketplace just for targeted shopping and selling items online as well and then thrift stores are great,” said Graham.

“It was a good day, we made enough money to make sure we got formula and diapers and all that so as long as you have that, you’re good,” said Dalgard.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8 per cent year over year in June, following a 3.4 per cent increase in May.

Canadians continued to see elevated grocery prices and mortgage costs in June, with those indexes contributing the most to the CPI increase.

For people hoping for a little relief, Statistics Canada says although year over year prices still rose last month, the pace has slowed down compared to May.