Earlier this month our DiscoverEstevan team put out a poll on what people are spending their $500 tax credit cheque on.

Many of our respondents went a step further to discuss the hardships of living with skyrocketing costs in several aspects of life. 

Destiny Tremblay is a mother of four who works as a server. She said the hardest part right now is affording groceries. 

"Definitely scraping by, I'm using all the money that I can get my hands on at this point," said Tremblay, who lives in Endeavour, Sask. "With groceries rising, it's really taken all of our extra funds. My weekly grocery bill has gone up by about 60 per cent. Every time I go to the grocery store, something else has gone up in price again."

"I don't even have any savings anymore, and my credit card is maxed out."

Meanwhile, Mitchel Meersnan lives near Saskatoon. He said he's had to adjust his shopping to compensate for the rising food costs. 

"You can't shop at places like Sobeys for groceries...that's like a luxury now," Meersnan laughed. "You've got to shop at No Frills or Walmart."

He added that he's stopped driving his truck in favour of his car because it's better on gas.

Both Meersnan and Tremblay agree that trips and other entertainment avenues have had to fall by the wayside.

"I haven't gone on any vacations this year, and I used to go on two or three a year," Meersnan said. "Eating out, I think I've maybe only eaten out a couple times this year. I used to eat out all the time."

Tremblay said her family outings have also been cut back.

"We used to go to Saskatoon or Regina fairly regularly. We used to go every couple months or so, spend the day and go do fun things, like an indoor trampoline place. We haven't done that in probably eight months, nine months," she said. "We stay home whenever we can, basically."

Meersnan, who works in the uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan, also described how inflation is affecting his lifestyle.

"You just start kind of shutting off...like you don't want to do anything because it's so expensive," he said. "That's kind of the thing that affects us most. I spend a lot more time at home. We used to be always out doing stuff. But you don't want to really go out and do anything anymore because it's so damn expensive. That's probably the thing we notice most."

Tremblay said she's hopeful for the future.

"It's just waiting it out, and as my kids get older I'll hopefully be able to work more and get more comfortable again, but for now it is what it is," she said.