RISING living costs give us every reason to grumble.

Prices for food, household bills, transportation and everything else we fork out for on a daily basis are more likely to rise than reduce.

Budgeting is essential for many families to stay afloat in this economic climate as they are constantly counting the costs to stay afloat.

Being smart with our finances is crucial and more savvy with our shopping has proved big business for some of the budget supermarkets - who doesn’t like a bargain?

We’re already cutting our cloth accordingly, or so the saying goes when you are making adaptations to save money by budgeting.

Many families are already struggling to live within their means and the purse strings look set to be pulled even tighter with another potential price hike along the way which is bound to hit most of us in our pockets.

Most families are forced to rely on their own transport to get them from A to B. Alternative transport isn’t as flexible and, as we have seen from recent reports, rail services aren’t always reliable.

Picking children up from school at a certain time is paramount which is why, for families, having their own vehicle is a priority. Commuting to workplaces in different destinations where walking and car sharing would be impossible or not practical has prompted many families to invest in a second set of wheels - but that could now come at a cost.

According to new figures, two-car families face an almost £200 increase in the cost of motoring if fuel duty is raised to fund a boost in health spending.

The chancellor could be primed to rise fuel duty by eight pence per litre should he wish to fund the Government’s pledge of giving the NHS an extra £20 billion a year by 2023, AA analysis shows.

Philip Hammond indicated that he may scrap the eight-year freeze on fuel duty, telling MPs that they must consider “the other side of the coin.”

Fuel duty has been kept at a rate of 58p per litre since 2011. Mr Hammond said this has saved the average car driver £850 compared with the pre-2010 escalator.

An increase in fuel duty to match the rise in health funding would mean an additional £192 per year for households running two cars, the AA found.

A recent poll of motorists suggested that only one per cent believe increasing fuel duty is the best way to pay for additional health spending.

But what does it mean for the families who may be forced to further tighten those purse strings?

For mum-of-two, Nicola Barker, a Slimming World consultant from Bradford, it certainly wouldn’t be welcome news.

“We are a two car family, we need two cars to work. My other half works almost 200 miles away from home, the increase would be another hit on the pocket having a knock on effect on the fact we’d have to work more to fund it. The cost of living is so high as it is.”

Sasha Pauley, who works for the Yorkshire Building Society in Bradford, is also a two-car family and says travel costs are one of her family’s biggest outgoings.

Living in a village means they can’t walk everywhere either and they rely on the flexibility of having their own transport for the school run so Sasha says should the fuel duty increase they would simply have to ‘suck it up somehow.’

She says working in different directions she and her husband, Adrian, have no other choice than to run two cars.

“It will have an impact. Things are tight anyway,” says Sasha.

AA president Edmund King said: “Drivers support more funding for the NHS but feel the funding should come from luxuries such as tobacco and alcohol rather than from essentials like fuel.

“Many young drivers and low income families would find their budgets crippled should the Chancellor set his eyes upon fuel duty to fund the additional NHS spend.

“What he may consider to be a shrewd move, would actually be careless and dangerous as it could throw the whole economy of its already precarious track.

“Should Mr Hammond follow his plans through, he will not only hurt low income families, he will also hurt businesses too.

“With next to no public support, the Chancellor has plenty of time to rethink his plans before announcing the Budget in the coming months.”

Fuel prices have risen for 10 consecutive weeks, with the average cost of a litre of petrol standing at more than £1.30 at UK forecourts, with diesel exceeding £1.34. Fuel has not been more expensive than current levels since July 2014.