Last year our landlord upped the rent from $350pw to $400pw and with the cost of living increasing, we opted to move to a different rental property where the rent was $350pw. However, the quality of the property is vastly different – we moved from a brick 3 bed semi-detached newer style with a back yard, to a 3 bed fibro house from the 1960s that isn’t insulated and has no cooling with a large back yard. And now this year we are facing another $30pw increase. We really want to purchase but there’s no affordable properties in the area where our children attend school, and we’re running out of ways to reduce our bills to accommodate the increases.