Border charities fear people will struggle more over the Christmas period

Upper Murray Family Care chief executive Felicity Williams said it wasn't just disadvantaged families strapped for cash anymore, but middle-class families too.

"One of the things that concerns us about Christmas is that it can be a very stressful time for families," she said.

"We're very worried about the cost of living crisis and its impact on families."

Ms Williams said families were accessing services "when they've never needed the support before".

"Families who've never accessed FoodShare before are going to FoodShare," she said.

"Families who've never had to make those choices before now are saying, 'do I pay for food and petrol or do I ease back on gifts for my children?'."

Uniting gambling and financial counselling team leader, Kaily Goodsell said it was common for residents to turn to pay-day lenders out of desperation or spend above their means over the holidays.

"It's alluring," she said.

"You've got Zip Pay, Afterpay, Klarna and so on, and the attraction of these lenders is it can get you in trouble because before you know it, you've got many accounts."

Ms Goodsell said it was apparent in both the numbers across Albury and Wodonga that people would continue to struggle.

"We've been hit with so many increases. You've got fuel, electricity, gas, rent, interest rate rises," Ms Goodsell said.

"It's so difficult. And then you add to that if you need to have your hair cut or get clothes for school or work."

Ms Goodsell said the risk with Christmas is everyone tried to "outdo themselves from the year before, to compete with the latest technologies, with their neighbours, that kind of thing".

She said the key message would be to have Christmas according to your budget.

"Christmas is really about being together. It's not about the stuff you put under the tree," she said.

Ms Goodsell said it was also important people in the community knew that help wasn't only available for people receiving government benefits, "we recognise that everybody is struggling".

Ms Williams noted that with the increase in the cost of living, Christmas would be a "tough time for some of our families" and expected more children, young people, and families would be in need than ever before during the lead-up.

"It's probably better for people to seek support early rather than when things get really difficult," she said.

Upper Murray Family Care will be holding a gift appeal after the success of last year's appeal, giving more than 391 children presents.

"All of our gifts and donations go back to supporting disadvantaged local children and families," she said.

Wodonga Regional FoodShare's chief executive, Sue Thornton, said the outlay was more significant for many people, and more people were accessing help, especially with food share services.

"The cost-of-living is doubling the impact on many people," she said.

"We want to help as much as possible; every day is just as important, not just Christmas, but we will try and put some goodies in the packs for people to find joy.

Ms Thornton said if people needed more support, they would refer them to financial counselling or other services.

"Food is just a bit of a Band-Aid," she said.

"Everybody needs to be able to access healthy, nutritious food. But if there are ongoing issues that they might need assistance with, then we will align an agency to help them."

Ms Thornton said it was essential to keep conversing about what services could help different people.

"There are even people in workplaces who are struggling to make ends-meet," she said.

"It's the cost of food; it's the cost of fuel; it's the cost of their services such as electricity and gas, their rentals or their mortgage. Either way, everything's increasing. Nothing is decreasing."

It was a similar situation for The Carevan Foundation, the organisation is about to prepare hundreds of pampers for its Christmas appeal for families who can't put food on the table this festive season.

Carevan's Leanne Johnson said more people would require that support this year.

"It's going to put a lot of pressure on mental health," she said.

"People are hugely committed and maybe even over committed to making sure Christmas will be a good one."

She said families will be unable to meet their everyday essentials and needs with spending big.

"I think it's going to get worse," she said.

"I've said it for a long time: no one's exempt, but this year will be the icing on the cake.

Ms Johnson said it wasn't just the price increases with food and electricity, "everything's gone up".

"Nothing is coming down," she said.

"It hasn't gone up by ten or twenty cents; it's gone up by a couple of dollars.

"And when you start adding that into your everyday living expenses. Something's got to give, doesn't it?"

Ms Johnson said people needed to stop feeling guilty for asking for help and just do it.

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