‘I was £70,000 in debt at 48, six years later I was able to retire'

Toni Graham, from Yorkshire, faced a daunting breakdown at the age of 48, which plunged her into £70,000 of debt, saw her weight reach 17 and a half stone. Fast-forward six years and Toni was able to retire, three and a half stone lighter as she embraced an "extreme frugalist" lifestyle.

On the surface, when Toni was 48, many might have assumed she had it all together: a working single mother of two with a high-powered job, nice car, and nicer clothes. But the truth for Toni was far less idyllic.

Her expenses were surpassing her income due to the pressure of maintaining the lifestyle she saw the people around her living, coupled with the financial burdens from a lengthy divorce, and the tremendous stress from her professional life was wearing her down. Speaking with Money Wellness, Toni recalled: "I was living paycheque to paycheque and I wasn't enjoying life at all, not at all."

Her situation deteriorated when she had a breakdown, resulting in nine months away from work. When her colleagues came to visit: "People couldn't believe the state I was in. I looked like a really frail old woman.

"I'd got to 17 and a half stone, I was walking with a stick, my legs were giving way. I was really, really ill. People were shocked when they saw me."

Feeling at her lowest, Toni sought guidance and invested £140 in life coaching sessions that ultimately transformed her life. When asked about her aspirations for the next phase of her life, she jokingly responded "to retire", a statement her coach took quite seriously.

Together, they transitioned Toni's unsustainable lifestyle into one of extreme frugality. She said: "I'm an extreme frugalist, so that means you don't just do little bits to save money, you just go full out."

She successfully reduced her annual expenses to a mere £10,000, using the remainder of her income to clear her debts. And she "loved it".

Among her top frugality strategies are avoiding shops as much as possible, growing her own food, and even adopting specific diets to further cut down her grocery bill. She and her housemate also sidestep the most expensive time of year by creating homemade hampers as Christmas presents.

Toni said: "It's like probably 200 habits in a day of saving money, like washing your bags out that you've had in the freezer, just the tiny little things that you automatically do... saving your fat from your bacon that you've cooked or making your own lard, anything, you know, all these little things add up."

Toni also seized every opportunity to boost her income; taking on overtime, lecturing at her local college on her days off, selling unused items. All this additional work "gave me a purpose".

Six years later, Toni retired and had also shed three and a half stone. She continues to live a very frugal existence, which she finds healthier and more fulfilling than her previous lifestyle of splurging on clothes, cars, and luxuries with borrowed money.

Now approaching 65, Toni lives on a pension under £600 a month, most of which goes straight into savings. But, like many, she's feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis.

To cut costs further, she's taken on new measures recently such as doing laundry less frequently, ditching her TV licence by stopping live broadcasts, and staying in bed longer during the colder months to save on heating bills. She added: "We're doing that intermittent fasting, so we don't have to eat breakfast.

"We'll eat from half past 10 till half past five, and that's our window for eating, and that cuts out a meal...That's the new thing we've done this year to save money."

For those considering a more frugal way of life, Toni suggests small changes like switching from liquid soap to bar soap, which can significantly reduce expenses over time. She has also created a Facebook group for people with similar interests and shares tips on her own website.

She concluded: "I feel richer now than I've ever felt in my life. I have more choice now, I have more freedom now than I've ever had in my life, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I'm really happy and I've had 10 happy years."