Thrifty teacher, 29, aims to save £270,000 over the next 20 years by only shopping second hand, freezing food and cutting spending to just £50 per week - so she and her husband can retire at 50

A young mother who wants to retire with her husband at 50 is taking on the challenge of saving £270,000 over the next 20 years.

Nicola Richardson, 29, has made drastic cutbacks across all areas and is trying to prove penny-pinching will not affect the quality of her family's life.

The teacher and her husband Dave, 33, are targeting putting £14,000 aside every year while bringing up their son Alfie, 10 months.

Nicola and Dave Richardson, pictured with son Alfie, are trying to save £270,000 in the next 20 years

Mrs Richardson, 29, pictured, wants to save up the cash so she and her husband can retire at 50

Among her plans for saving are:

• Only shopping for clothes in sales and charity shops and keeping their wardrobes small.
• Limiting their food budget to £50 per week on food, cleaning products and cosmetics.
• Sharing a car to save money on petrol, tax, insurance and MOTs.
• Only buying second hand toys and equipment for their baby son. 

The couple spent £60 on a cot for Alfie, saving £240 on a price they were quoted for a brand new one.

They kitted out his entire nursery for less than £100, scouring online auction sites and second-hand sales, picking up a rocking chair for £30 and a tricycle for just 50p.

Mrs Richardson, of Durham, also regularly rounds down the amount of money in her bank account to the nearest £1 or £10 and transfers the excess into a savings account.

She said: 'What we're aiming for is to save enough money so we can bridge the gap between retiring early and when our pensions kick in.

'We've estimated that we need around £18,000 to 20,000 to live on, which basically means we'll have to save over £270,000 to make that work and we've got only 20 years to do it.

'It's a big aim but we're dreaming big in this household.' 

The teacher has cut back by spending just £50 per week on groceries and kitting out her baby's nursery for less than £100

Mrs Richardson, who as a teacher earns between £22,000 and £33,000 per year, added: 'Obviously this a bit of a tough challenge, but we try and make savings wherever we can, whether that's getting a reduced item in a supermarket, making our food budget go a bit further, to making bigger savings on our energy bills - every little thing helps to achieve big at the end of it.'

Her thrifty ways started when she was a student and living on a budget, but when she met her husband Dave, a postman, in 2010 she had to tighten their purse strings to save for a house deposit.

'We managed to save over £20,000 in two years, just by being really careful and monitoring our spending habits,' she said.

She takes enjoyment in saving money - but has kept her savings plan secret from friends until now.

Mrs Richardson said: 'I try to live by the phrase 'Living the good life on a budget'. I'm not missing out on anything and we still like to get to do lots of fun things but we're also careful with our money.

'When people realise that you're saving for the future and not living for the moment, especially because we're quite young, some think we're missing out but we're paying back our future selves - we're saying we want lots of good times in the future and we need to start planning for that now, rather than waiting until we're in our fifties and we've left it too late.'

Mr Richardson, who as a postman who earns around £18,000 per year, added: 'You can't put a price on time, and the more we save money, we spend less time at work, which means I don't have to do overtime, I don't have to work on days off - it means I can spend time with my family.'

The teacher said grocery shopping on a £50 budget was the biggest challenge but she had found lots of ways 'not to waste money'. 

She said: 'Food shopping is a big thing of mine, I think people can waste a lot of money if they're not careful.

'I write a menu and I look in the cupboards to see if there's anything that needs using up that I can incorporate into meals. 

'I then write a shopping list and I only buy what's on my list, so I don't get caught up with all the special offers.'

The teacher recently spent under £20 on four meals for her and husband, plus food for her son - two portions of chilli con carne with sweet potato fries and two portions of slow-cooked chicken stew. 

She added: 'I think bringing up a baby can be really expensive if you make it really expensive but there are so many things you can do to make it cheaper - you can buy their toys second-hand, you can make all of their food from scratch, you don't need to go out and buy everything matching, pristinely wrapped. 

To ensure the couple are on track to fulfill their retirement dream, at the end of the week Mrs Richardson inputs all of the family's spending - from bills, to food and entertainment - into a detailed spreadsheet, enabling her to micro manage their budget.

The couple, pictured, are keeping tabs on spending by putting all their outgoings into a detailed spreadsheet

She said: 'Because we've got this big dream to retire early, we obviously need to keep an eye on our income and outgoings all the time to make sure we can achieve that.'

While Mrs Richardson has handled the everyday savings, her husband has a skilled eye for searching for better deals on their energy and utility bills.

Mrs Richardson said: 'We're quite conscious about checking to see if we've got the best deal on our energy bills and we also do things such as turning the lights off and turning appliances off at the wall.

'Apparently if you leave your TV on standby that will cost you an extra £80 a year in electricity. 

'The EDF Energy app has told me I could save over £112 a year on my energy bill. 

'Technology makes it really easy to save because there's lots of apps you can use that help you track your budget or make big savings on things and it doesn't take any time at all but it pays off massively.'

The couple have a long way to go to save enough money to live an early, easy retirement - but they remain committed to their dream.

Mrs Richardson added: 'Although we make some sacrifices now, these sacrifices are worth it because in the long run we're going to get to do what we want.'