Canadian mom takes second job as mortgage rises from $1,700 to $3,200

Jaclyn Reinhart with her family/Submitted

Written for Daily Hive by David Silverberg, a freelance journalist and writing coach in Toronto.

When Lishai Peel first bought her home in Hamilton two years ago, her mortgage, on a variable rate, hovered in the $1,700 per month area. Today, the mother of an eight-year-old son is paying close to $3,200, and her stress on covering that expense has propelled her to cut back on groceries and take up some extra work.

“For one thing, we phased out having meat, and I used to buy so many berries but they got expensive, so I’ve switched to more affordable fruit like pears and apples,” she says.

Peel, a poet who works part-time as the executive director of the gritLIT literary festival, has also taken on extra contract work helping teach English at a Hebrew school nearby.

She is not alone in being forced to find new ways to scrimp and save as soaring inflation rates continue to amp up the blood pressure of homeowners across Canada. A recent survey by Angus Reid Institute found that 80% of Canadians with a mortgage said their household debt is a major source of stress.

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A November 2023 survey conducted by Ipsos found that four in 10 have also noted that the current economic conditions have led to increased stress and anxiety.

You’d expect homeowners with variable rates to be facing the most hand-wringing, but fixed-rate owners are also feeling the pinch. The Angus Reid survey noted that while those on fixed-rate mortgages are more likely (57%) to find their monthly payments easy to handle at the moment than those with variable rates (50%), they are more likely to say they are “very worried” about what their next mortgage renewal might bring.

New to owning a home with her two kids, Jaclyn Reinhart enjoys a full-time job as a TD Insurance senior advisor in St. John, New Brunswick, but with her fixed mortgage rate, she’s also had to cut costs recently.

Jaclyn Reinhart with her family/Submitted

“I’m at the end of the rope every month,” she says, “and while my kids never go without anything, I have to scale back on certain things. I used to treat myself to a night at a hotel sometimes, but now I can’t do that for a long time.”

Jaclyn Reinhart/Submitted

Reinhart, who also performs as a singer-songwriter, has decided to take on side hustles in the new year by teaching music and writing grants for other artists. “Doing all of that will expand my skills and make more money to help me breathe a bit more at the end of the month,” she adds.

For the past 12 years, Duncan Shields has been a homeowner in Vancouver’s east side, but thanks to enjoying a favourable fixed rate, he and his family aren’t anxious about mortgage payments as much as they are about rising food costs.

Duncan Shields/Submitted

“We used to eat out as a family weekly, but not anymore,” Shields, a lead animator with Waterproof Studios, says.

Their grocery visits don’t include red meat any longer, replaced by more affordable white meat such as pork and chicken. “Cutting back on alcohol was also essential,” he adds.

Melissa Leong, a personal finance specialist and author of Happy Go Money: Spend Smart, Save Right and Enjoy Life, has seen how “stress about mortgage payments across the board is high right now… and many people are leaning on gig work like taking a job at Uber picking up passengers or delivering food.”

Melissa Leong/Submitted

She also advises homeowners to not just reduce expenses arbitrarily. “You don’t have to cut back on everything, but do the homework to better understand your priorities,” she says. “These cuts are temporary and so that might mean, for now, cutting subscriptions or memberships to apps you don’t really need. And remember, you don’t need to cut back on all the fun stuff.”