To cut down the expenses, people always come up with innovative ways to tackle things and in one such incident, a single dad in Australia named Martin Bongiorno, who is a resident of Bateman's Bay in New South Wales, transformed his home into a luminous sanctuary using only a single lightbulb that he carries from room to room. This is when his life took an unexpected turn after a workplace accident left him reliant on compensation payments. He was in trouble when he was unable to pay his A$2000, (which is approximately Rs 1.1 lakh) electricity bill and was forced to resort to this idea.
He told ABC, "I have one lamp positioned in the middle of the room and if I need to move from one room to the next, I just take out the light bulb and move it to the next room."
This is not the only cost-cutting method the single dad has taken to reduce costs. He no longer eats food that needs cooking, doesn't take hot showers, and doesn't turn the lamp on until it is completely dark outside. After his rent was increased by A$40( Rs 2,200), a week, Martin was forced to allocate a budget of $15( Rs 800) a day for food and $20(Rs 1,100), a week for power.
He also added that "you're constantly in this sort of survival mode. It's exhausting because you realize this is not a temporary thing."
Living crisis in Australia
Like several other nations, Australia grapples with a cost of living crisis and with recent warnings indicating potential steep hikes of up to 31 percent. Inflation had reached a 32-year-high last year at 7.8 percent. The Australian government has introduced a program to help over five million families with their energy bills to lessen household financial strain. As part of this initiative, eligible households will receive a one-time payment of AUD$500, while select businesses will also benefit from this support.
