Almost four out of five people in north Norfolk are financially worse off than a year ago, and nearly 90pc say they will have to cut down on some items to cope with price rises.
A new survey carried out by this newspaper has laid bare the pressures on our cost of living driven by inflation, fuel and energy prices rises.
Of the more than 320 people in north Norfolk who took part, 79pc said they were worse off than a year ago, while 2pc said they were better off and 18pc noticed no change.
Only 14pc said they could cope with the price rises, and 16 percent said they had needed to turn to foodbanks or other forms of non-state support.
Areas people said they would have to cut back on to cope with price rises included heating (68pc), food shopping (59pc) and streaming services (38pc). Almost 60pc said they would go out less, and 62pc said they would limit car journeys.
Sadie Houghton, who runs Yesu Community Fridge in Sheringham, said people using the service were either struggling to get by, or were trying to find ways to tighten their belt and cut down where they could.
She said: "People are looking for ways where they can save money, and food is such a big expense.
"There are people who are in crisis and need food, and others who are trying to find ways of making their money stretch further."
Ms Houghton said there were a number of simple tips people could try to reduce their food shopping bills.
She said: "Try and shop towards the end of the day because that's when supermarkets reduce prices.
"Make good use of your freezer, and try to batch cook. Plan your meals and what you're going to have when buying food.
"When you come into a food bank or community fridge you have to take what's there, but you can always look for recipes online if you don't know what to do with the food you get.
"Last summer we had 500 cucumbers come in within a week, so we looked up recipes for people to take away so they knew what to do with them."
Our campaign: Helping you through
The North Norfolk News has launched a Your Money Matters campaign to address the rising cost of living.
Our reporters will commit to telling your stories, sharing both your struggles and successes.
We want to do more for our readers than just reporting on price increases. We need to help find solutions, ways to make it easier and areas in which we can fight so people can enjoy a better quality of life.
If you run a north Norfolk shop or business and have a special offer to promote aimed at easing the burden of the cost of living crisis, contact our reporters Stuart Anderson at stuart.anderson@archant.co.uk or Daniel Hickey at daniel.hickey@archant.co.uk.
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