By Sheryl Smolkin

Have you ever wished you could lock the door and take off for a year?

As I was looking for material to feature this week, I discovered an interesting blog for the first time.

On $he Thinks I’m Cheap Toronto blogger Andrew Martin aims to help Canadians make more money by sharing facts, stories and advice.

Beginning in early December, Andrew did a Career Break Survey. Then in subsequent blogs he discussed the survey results and how you can save in order to travel long-term.

Andrew is also a guest blogger on our perennial favourite Boomer & Echo. If you made a New Year’s resolution to eat less and work out more, you will be interested in his contribution this week about mobile technology that can improve your health.

For fans of passive investing, in Revisiting the Couch Potato Model Portfolios Dan Bortolotti discloses how and why he recently tweaked his holdings, although generally he does not advocate jumping from fund to fund.

And squawkfox, Kerry K. Taylor is the first to agree that making your own peanut butter is not going to save you mega millions, but her research (and recipes) reveal that you will save 37% by making your own organic peanut butter at home a savings of $1.37 per 500g jar.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?”  Send us an email with the information to so*********@sa*********.com and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

This week’s best blogs are a mixed bag.

If you have a give-away pile accumulating in your basement or garage, Marc Saltzman says you may be throwing away items that could be be sold on Kijiji or Craigslist.

Ellen Roseman reports on how ignoring a 3-cent balance affected a reader’s credit rating so she couldn’t get the mortgage she needed for her new house.

On Boomer and Echo, we learn the true cost of tapping into your RRSP nest egg early.

Jim Yih concludes Freedom 35 is possible but not likely unless you have sufficient passive income to support your lifestyle.

And if you are thinking about giving up on savings altogether, MoneySense editor Jonathan Chevreau says you may also be giving up the chance for financial independence while you’re still young enough to enjoy it.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?”  Send us an email with the information to so*********@sa*********.com and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

With RRSP season in full swing, the blogosphere and more traditional media are chock full of advice for those of you who resolved to spend less and save more in 2013.

Live for today or save for tomorrow? How do you balance small pleasures with big investments? Toronto Star consumer columnist Ellen Roseman reports on responses from her readers when she posted a story on millionaire Kevin O’Leary’s advice to stop buying coffee, lunches, magazines and cigarettes.

BrighterLife.ca tackles How-to-dig-your-way-out-of-debt and Jim Yih shares ideas on how to Make RRSP Savings One of Your Financial Resolutions in his blog “Retire Happy.”

Of course, having enough money is not the only key to a happy retirement. You have to figure out what to do with your time. Tim Stubbs recently found himself with an extra 10 hours a week (wouldn’t that be nice!) when his gig as a Regina School Board Trustee ended. On “Canadian Dream: Free at 45” he writes about how he plans to spend his new-found “free time.”

And on another note, on Boomer and Echo, Robb Engen explores the difficult subject, “How to talk to your elderly parents about money.”

By Sheryl Smolkin

Happy New Year to all! This week’s roundup includes blogs that recap the best of 2012, and encourage “financial fitness” that can save you money in 2013.

If you ran out of vacation days long before the end of last year, you will not be surprised by results of a Mercer survey I reported on in my moneyville blog Eye on Benefits that reveals Canadians alone in preferring time off to a raise.

On squawkfox.ca Kerry K. Taylor reprints her top blogs in 2012 including “This is going to be expensive… but who cares!” which announces the adoption of her infant daughter Chloe.

Retiree Dave Dineen writes about ways we can add meaning to our lives in New Years- A time for rediscovery on brighterlife.ca

For those of us who struggle with making and following a budget, Boomer and Echo blogger Robb Engen makes the case for Why budgeting is not a waste of time.

And finally, for those of you who have budgeted for upgraded tech gadgets even after your holiday spending spree, moneyville blogger Marc Saltzman says there are rumours that New Apple iPads set to debut in March?.

By Sheryl Smolkin

November was Financial Literacy Month and Glenn Cooke of Life Insurance Canada organized a campaign by Canadian bloggers who published their best financial tips. Links to all of them appear in this blog from Canadian Capitalist.

Masters of Money’s Alison Griffiths warns on Getsmartaboutmoney.ca that if an investment seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Toronto Star columnist and consumer advocate Ellen Roseman blogs about how social media helped Kavitha Nadarajah get compensation from Whirlpool after she had to replace her top of the line five year-old refrigerator.

For holiday travellers, Mike Holman at Money Smarts has some ideas about avoiding cell phone roaming charges when you travel to the U.S.

T.V. personality Gail Vaz-Oxlade calculates how much money you can save by making lunch instead of eating lunch out every day.

Tax time is quickly approaching, so bookmark this post on Million Dollar Trader about CRA’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program for both people who need help and qualified volunteers who are able to assist them.

By Sheryl Smolkin

If you are reading B.C.-based Kerry K. Taylor at Squawkfox for the first time don’t miss 50 ways to save $1,000/ year. But her blog Price Check: How to cut the cost of a gluten-free diet is a must-read for anyone shopping and cooking for people with this dietary limitation.

In Give me back my five bucks Krystal Yee who also blogs on moneyville.ca and The Frugal Wanderer asks what you would do if someone gave you $1000.

At Boomer & Echo, Robb Engen from southern Alberta (also another moneyville blogger) test drives a new rewards credit card from American Express.

Tim Stobbs lives in Regina. He is well on his way to the Canadian Dream: Free at 45. He recently posted a five-part blog updating his retirement calculations and how he is going to get there 20 years before the rest of us.

And as you prepare for the holiday season with your nearest and dearest, make sure you have a tissue handy when you read a reprint on Brighter Life of the tender 2011 letter from Sun Life AVP and blogger Kevin Press to his daughter, Dear Grace: The three secrets of Christmas.