We had packed lunches every day for 10 years and retired at 40
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Image source, Alan DoneganByAlice KantorBusiness reporterPublished20 minutes agoEvery winter, Alan and Katie Donegan would avoid turning on the heating at their home in the south of England.
"Instead, we wore extra layers and used hot water bottles - we turned it into a game," says Alan. "It wasn't suffering, it was strategy." While the couple admit that others thought they were "extreme" or "mad" to put so much emphasis on not spending money, Alan explains that they were "laser-focused on buying freedom". By "freedom" he means early retirement, which the Donegans managed to achieve seven years ago when Alan was only 40, and Katie just 35.
The two rarely had takeaways and always took packed lunches to work. "We were £40,000 better off over 10 years from just that one lunch habit," says Alan. "We even charged our phones while out and hunted for discarded Nectar [supermarket] vouchers.
You can decide if that's crazy or genius, but it worked." Alan had worked as a landscape gardener before launching a training and life-coaching business, while Katie was an actuary, or risk assessor, for a financial firm. Aside from their good incomes, their extreme saving habits meant they were able to retire early - and they put as much money as they could possibly afford into investments. "Every pound we invested was a step closer to the life we wanted," says Katie.
They quit work after their savings hit £1m.
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