Exclusive: Even though it's cold, Toni Maree tries not to turn the heating on.

It's not that she likes the chill, there's just no room in her stretched monthly budget for growing energy bills.

Instead, to keep warm, she and her partner huddle on the couch under a blanket inside their NSW rental.

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She could stay in bed, taking refuge under the duvet, but Maree is working three jobs, sometimes clocking up 70 hours each week, so there's not a lot of time for lying around.

"It's definitely a luxury to turn on a heater or something," she told 9news.com.au, "but we just simply can't afford it."

Toughing out the freeze isn't the only extraordinary action Maree has begun to adopt as normal to try and make ends meet each month.

Her eating habits are changing.

She's skipping breakfast and sometimes picks up the food a local cafe gives away.

Maree also has celiac disease, a chronic digestive and immune disorder.

She should avoid eating foods containing gluten but that's a line she's now crossing.

"I'm actually starting to re-eat gluten because it's cheaper than eating gluten-free," she said, adding that money is a "constant worry" in her busy life.

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At the end of the week, after working a full-time job at a bottle store, cleaning four nights a week at a factory and a third casual job, Maree is left with $75 after paying all her bills.

The unexpected bills not included in the budget blow a hole in her finances and send her deeper into debt.

"I'm very tired a majority of the time because as soon as I finish one job, I'll go to another," she said.

"It's sort of never-ending."

Maree is far from alone.

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