Many prolific personal finance bloggers don’t hesitate to share a surprising amount of information about their family finances and the milestones on their journey to financial freedom.

In his Net Worth Update: 2017 Mid-Year Review, Boomer & Echo’s Robb Engen reports that he is well on his way to meet his, “big hairy audacious goal of Freedom 45.” To do so, his savings rate will need to remain high and he’ll have to avoid the evil temptation of lifestyle inflation. Currently his net worth is $574,296.

Tim Stobbs is an engineer in his thirties with two kids living in Regina, Saskatchewan who decided working until 65 sounds like a bad idea. At first he thought Freedom 45 might work, but he is now aiming to retire on his 40th birthday. Since he is mortgage free, and his May 2017 Net Worth is $972,000, early retirement could be right around the corner.

Krystal Yee has been sharing her financial goals and challenges for 10 years on Give me back my five bucks. Her recent blogs The real cost of moving in Vancouver, How I’m saving for travel this year and May 2017 Goals: Recap will give you some perspective on how this busy professional freelance writer is managing her finances and what she hope is her final household move until retirement!

Are you expecting an addition to the family? Personal finance and travel writer Barry Choi (Money We Have) and his wife have been Getting the baby room ready and buying all the necessary bits and pieces from furniture to car seats to strollers. He figures they have spent about $1040 so far. And these expenses are in addition to the costs of IVF which he estimated at $25,000. Although he says, “I’m on the hook for 20 years and I could do a running tally but the costs may terrify me,” he is thrilled at the prospect.

Bridget Eastgaard (Money After Graduation) is also contributing to the personal finance blogger baby boom. She notes that many millennials want to become parents, but their finances are holding them back. The combined burden of student loan debt and sky-high housing prices make having a family seem like an unaffordable dream, but it doesn’t have to be.

How to save for Baby? “You have an Emergency Fund, you have a Retirement Fund, and now you need a Baby Fund — a dedicated savings account to afford all pregnancy, birth, and child-related expenses.” Eastgaard advises. “Ideally, you would start this before you even begin trying to become pregnant, but even if you find yourself with an unplanned baby like yours truly, a Baby Fund is a crucial first step to ensuring your family starts off on the right financial foot.”

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

By Sheryl Smolkin

The thing about January is that everyone is either trying to get physically, mentally or financially fit, although some people are closer to the end game than others. Here’s what some of our favourite bloggers wrote about saving money and reaching other goals in 2017.

In How to Save Money on Groceries: 10 Easy Ways to Cut Your Bill in Half Tom Drake gives the usual advice, such as make a list and stick to it, try private label brands and buy case lots of products you use regularly. But he says you can also kill two birds with one stone by eating less so your grocery bill goes down.

Stephan Weyman says one of the reasons he shops at Costco is the company’s “no questions asked, crazy return policy.” For example, the company took back a three year old recumbent bicycle that broke down two years before and he got a $500 refund. He has also successfully returned a bicycle purchased for his wife that turned into a garage ornament for $200; cushioned floor mats, and frying pans that were supposed to be professional quality and didn’t hold up.

On Give me back my five bucks, Krystal says her primary 2017 goals are to have a fun year full of travel and adventure. She plans to stay debt free and continue to save save at least $1,650/month in her RRSP/TFSA. She also resolves to curb impulse spending, continue to be active and keep in better touch with friends.

Cait Flanders (formerly Blonde on a Budget) who paid off her $28,000 of debt in two and a half years and in July 2014 completed a year- long shopping ban, plans to make 2017 the year of slow living.

Each month, she is going to experiment with slowing down in one area of her life. Some of the different things she will experiment with are: slow food, slow mornings, slow evenings, slow movement, slow technology and slow money. “The only thing I won’t do is make a list of what I’m going to work on each month. If I’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s to trust my gut,” Flanders says.

And finally, Tim Stobbs has documented progress towards his early retirement goal on Canadian Dream: Free at 45 for several years. He hopes 2017 is the last year of his full-time working career. However, he is beginning to notice a new emotion in the people around him: fear. He gets the usual well-meaning queries like:

• Are you sure you have enough saved?
• What happens if you don’t get a part time job?
• What will you do with unexpected expenses?
• Maybe you should work just one more year?

But Stobbs figures the worse that can happen is that he will have to go back to work for a few years. “I fully admit I may not have enough saved to head into semi-retirement,” he says.  “But I don’t want to live a life based on fear of the unknown.  I’m willing to try out something new and see what happens. “

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

As I write this, perhaps the most newsworthy item of the last week has been the election of the new Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But it will be weeks and months before we know what impact the change in government will actually have on our day to day lives and the Canadian economy.

So today, we go back to basics and draw on the writings of many of our favourite personal finance bloggers and mainstream media pundits who day in and day out, produce articles that help us better manage our money.

The thought of being unemployed is terrifying, but the odds are it will happen to you or a close family member at least once in your lifetime. On Money We Have, Barry Choi writes about How to Prepare for Unemployment. He suggests that you have an emergency fund; a side hustle and that you improve your skills.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade tackles Parenting on a Budget. She says the trick to not letting kids’ expenses get way out of hand is to allocate a specific amount to each child’s activities and needs, and stick with the plan. Start by listing all the things your children do for which you must lay out some of your hard-earned bucks.

Krystal Yee has been vegetarian for almost two years now. She shares on Give me back my five bucks her one month experiment moving from vegetarian to vegan. She anticipates higher than normal grocery bills and that it will be tough to change her habits, but she is hoping that one month will turn to two months and the result will be a new lifestyle.

If you wonder where your money goes, you’ll enjoy The crunch years: Where the money goes by Matt McCleern on MoneySense. McCleern tracked every cent he spent digitally, over the last 12 years. He says transportation and daycare were real budget busters, but the best financial decision he ever made was to aggressively pay down his mortgage.

And in the Huffington Post, Pramod Udiaver discusses five major trends that will affect how you retire. They are increasing longevity; the lower return environment; fewer defined benefit pension plans; and growing health care costs.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

One of the ways many of us try to stretch our dollars further is by taking advantage of rewards programs ranging from cash back or travel rewards on credit cards to points cards from your local supermarket or drug store.

I have been a big fan of travel rewards ever since I did a distance Master of Law degree in the UK in the mid 1990s that required me to travel to Europe half a dozen times in two years. But I have a collection of other loyalty cards in my wallet including a punch card from a bakery that rewards me with a free dozen bagels every time I’ve purchased ten dozen in total.

A September 2015 report from Montreal-based Aimia Inc., which operates Aeroplan and other customer-loyalty programs says of the 89% of Canadians enrolled in a loyalty program, 59% have done so with supermarkets, 22% have signed up with banks and 18% with restaurants.

On itbusiness.ca Brian Jackson reported in March 2015 on a research study conducted by Yahoo Inc. The average Canadian has four loyalty program cards in their wallets, the study found. More than half of consumers say they frequently use those cards to accumulate points and miles. Two-thirds of them go online to calculate the value of the loyalty program, and six out of 10 choose loyalty programs that come free-of-charge.

On Robb Engen’s say-so, I replaced my CIBC Aeroplan VISA with a Capital One Aspire Travel World MasterCard about 18 months ago. This week I was delighted to get an email from the company describing how their program has been enhanced by elimination of the the tiered redemption program and the introduction of partial redemptions. Read all about the changes on RewardsCardsCanada and why with these changes, Capital One has further cemented its status as the best value rewards card for everyday travelers.

If unlike your jet setting neighbours, you travel infrequently, you may be interested in the blog on familyfuncanada.com about the best loyalty programs for infrequent travelers. Helen Early says Airmiles can bring you plenty of rewards. According to Early, the best thing about the Airmiles program is that you can earn points almost anywhere, through activities that you probably already do. She also notes that hotel chains like Faimont, Starwood, Best Western and Hilton offer great deals and discounts for even the lowest tier of members.

Krystal Yee wrote a sponsored post on Give Me Back My Five Bucks about how you can be rewarded for everyday purchases when using your debit card. She reports that while there are very few debit rewards in Canada, Scotiabank offers three.

• The SCENE Debit Card allows you to earn accelerated points through Cineplex online and in person (5x based on purchases) as well as at a few other select locations including Sport Chek, Milestones and East Side Mario’s. You will also earn one point for every five dollars spent in other locations.
• With the Moneyback Debit Card you can earn 1% on every purchase you make – up to a maximum of $300 per year. Those that open up an account before October 31st will earn double the rewards – $600 – through to that day.
• With every purchase made on a ScotiaHockey NHL® debit card, you will be entered to win grand prizes including four 2016 NHL® All-Star Game packages, four 2016 Stanley Cup® Final packages, four 2016 Molson Canadian NHL Face-Off™ packages as well as 45 monthly prizes.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

Over the last few weeks, the Globe & Mail has featured an interesting series on debt, and how it is affecting both individuals and the economy. If you haven’t been following it, take a look at some of the stories below:

A taste for risk: Looking into Canada’s household debt

In deep: The high risks of Canada’s growing addiction to debt

Are you drowning in debt? See how you compare to other Canadians

Laurie Campbell: Credit Canada CEO shatters debt myths

I particularly like Rob Carrick’s article There’s no such thing as good debt. Mortgages, investment loans and student loans have traditionally been characterized as “good” debt. Carrick agrees borrowing for each of these purposes can be a rational thing to do and you may end up wealthier as a result. But he concludes there are too many pitfalls today for any one of them to qualify as a no-brainer financial decision.

Big Cajun Man (Alan Whitton) on the Canadian Personal Finance lists several articles about the evils of debt among his personal favourites. In 2008, he wrote Debt is like Fat. He says that just like his weight gain occurred a little at a time over 14 years, if you are not careful, debt build up can occur slowly without your noticing it.

If you are facing a mountain of debt and don’t know where to start, take a look at How I Paid Off $30,000 of Debt in Two Years, The Blog Post I’ve Been Waiting to Write  and What a Year of Being Debt-Free Has Taught Me  by Cait Flanders, who blogs at Blonde on a Budget.

In 2013, Krystal Yee at Give me back my five bucks wrote  How do you fight debt fatigue?. Debt fatigue is a mental state that can happen when you’ve been in debt for so long that you think you’ll never dig yourself out of the hole you’ve created for yourself. She quotes financial expert Gail Vaz-Oxlade who often tells people on her television shows to try and make a plan to get out of debt in 36 months or less – because anything more than three years, and you’ll likely suffer from some form of debt fatigue.

And finally, in a guest post on the Canadian Finance blog, Jim Yih from Retire Happy wrote that Debt Can Be A Problem For The Baby Boomers’ Retirement Plans. He says baby boomers who are getting ready for retirement need to get serious about planning for the best years of their lives.  Part of getting serious is addressing debt head on and taking the necessary steps to develop good habits around debt. His five tips on how boomers can deal with the debt epidemic are: stop overspending; increase your income; get support; focus on you before your kids; and, take one step at a time.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

There is nothing I love better than planning a vacation or two or three. At the moment we have two weeks in our Muskoka fractional ownership cottage coming up; a week at Disneyworld with our granddaughter in September; and I’m working on the arrangements for a family vacation somewhere warm in February.

So with summer vacations coming up for many families, I pulled together a series of posts both old and new, with a vacation theme.

Krystal Yee explains how she is saving money and travel rewards points for a European vacation this fall and prioritizing her travel plans. She is comfortable that nearer term trips to Edmonton and Las Vegas are off the table because her long term goal is worth saving for.

Peggy Goldman, President of Friendly Planet Travel offers 9 Great Tips For Budget-Conscious Travelers. Choosing a hotel with breakfast, avoiding baggage fees at all cost and selecting a credit card without foreign conversion fees are all good suggestions.

Several years ago on Brighter Life, Helen Burnett-Nichols weighed the pros and cons of buying a fraction of a vacation home. She says because most people don’t use their cottages all year it may be difficult to justify full time cottage ownership. Shared ownership means you have the property for 4 or 5 weeks a year and when you arrive it’s like walking into a “no upkeep resort.” However ongoing maintenance costs will increase and the re-sale market for fractional units is often limited.

In a more recent Brighter Life blog, Brenda Spiering gives some interesting suggestions for preventing family cottage feuds. She says the best way to decide how to pass on the family cottage to the next generation is to talk to your family and consult a financial advisor. Depending on your needs, he or she can direct you to other professionals, such as an estate-planning lawyer or tax accountant.

And don’t forget the many vacation destinations close to home. Tourism Saskatchewan’s Travel Tales Blog gives you updates on things to see and do, places to stay and eat, and exciting year-around experiences available in Saskatchewan, all only a few mouse clicks away.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

A couple of travel-related stories caught my eye this week.

• RewardsCanada offers 5 Tips to Avoid or Mitigate Fuel Surcharges on Award Tickets. Did you know that Air Canada partners like United, Air China, Brussels Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, EVA Air, Scandinavian, Singapore, Swiss and Turkish Airways have much lower fuel surcharges?
• 3 Ways to Get Cheap Accommodation When Travelling is featured on When Life Gives You Lemons Add Vodka. Couchsurfiing, housesitting, AirBnB and tents are all possible (if not always practical) options.

If you have a spring or summer wedding on the horizon, find out Why a marriage contract may be right for you. It may not sound romantic, but drawing up a pre-nuptial agreement with your future spouse could save you a lot of grief later on, particularly if both of you are bringing significant assets into a second marriage.

In Retirement do’s and don’ts on the Canadian Personal Finance Blog, Big Cajun Man says make sure you have enough money to retire on, because if you don’t, you aren’t retired, you are destitute. To avoid that undesirable outcome, he recommends taking care of your health, not supporting your adult children and clearing your debts before you retire.

And finally, Krystal Lee has introduced us to her brand of frugality on Give me back my five bucks. But when it comes to fitness, she finally shelled out $100 for the Fitbit Flex and posted a review of the fitness tracking device. She likes the iPhone app, the sleep tracker and the silent alarm. She also says it is easy to use and set up. But she finds the step count to be inaccurate at times and says the calorie counter is a bit annoying.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

 

Hi,

Today we are continuing with the 2014 savewithSPP.com series of podcast interviews with personal finance bloggers. I’m talking to Krystal Yee who blogs on “Give me back my five bucks” and the “Frugal Wanderer.”

With over eight years of professional experience in marketing, communications, and writing, her career has spanned a variety of different industries. From ghost writing in the provincial government, event coordinating for a professional hockey team, to marketing cold water survival gear – she’s done just about everything.

In 2012 Krystal lived in Stuttgart, Germany. There, she worked remotely for clients such as the Toronto Star (moneyville.ca), Canadian Living, and Flare Magazine. In her spare time, she loves travelling, hiking, tweeting, and analyzing baseball statistics.

Hi Krystal. Thanks for joining me today.

Thanks for having me.

Q: When and why did you start your blog “givemebackmyfivebucks”?
A: Well, I started that blog back in February 2007, because I was finding it hard to relate to my friends in real life about the money issues I was having. I was uncomfortable bringing up a topic that, at the time, seemed really personal.

So once I found that personal finance blogs existed, I became really inspired and motivated, knowing there are other people out there like me who wanted to change their lives. That was the reason why I started my own blog.

Q: Seven years ago you had over $20,000 in student debt and no money. Now, you are a debt free homeowner. How did you do it?
A: It was a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but I knew that I needed a life change. And I decided not to hide from my debt any longer, and that was really, really scary. The first thing I did was calculate how much I owed. I gave myself one year to get out of debt. So I started building budgets, saving money any way I could, and increasing my income. And actually attacking my debt from all of those angles helped to speed up the process.

Q: What are some of the mistakes you think that you made along the way before you got on your debt repayment plan, and what would you do differently if you had it to just do all over again?
A: I think one of my biggest mistakes was not creating a realistic budget. I wanted to get where I wanted to be as fast as possible, but I didn’t take into account how unsustainable that would be. After taking that year to get out of debt, I thought I could keep up with this bare bones budget to save money faster but I started to get really tired of what I perceived as constant deprivation.

As a result I found that I was rebelling against myself and my goals, and that was a really strange feeling. It actually took me a few months to realize what was actually realistic in the long term. And even today, I really have to question the budgets I make for myself and the goals I’m settings, just to make sure they satisfy the saver in me, but it also lets me live the kind of lifestyle that I want.

Q: Now, in “givemebackmyfivebucks,” you discuss your financial goals, your successes and failures. You put up weekly and monthly budgets. That’s really baring your soul. What reaction have you had from family and friends and your readers?
A: Well, for the first few years I started my blog, I was actually anonymous, so I felt safe. I was scared of what my family and friends would say about how much I was sharing on the internet, but once I actually started writing for The Toronto Star’s website moneyville.ca, I realized that speaking frankly and opening myself up, was really empowering.

Q: In 2012, you moved to a very small apartment in Stuttgart and worked remote. What were some of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
A: It was really liberating moving to Germany and working for myself. You know, everyone dreams about quitting the 9-to-5 routine and becoming your own boss. I imagined sitting in European cafes all day long people watching and writing for clients. While I did that almost every day, because of the time zone difference, I also had to work a lot of late nights since my clients were all in North America. It was a really big adjustment for me.

But I think the biggest challenge was the isolation. Not only was I in a country where everyone spoke a different language, but working for myself. So when I moved back to Vancouver, I went back to a corporate job because I needed that daily interaction with other people.

Q: You love to travel and you manage to travel economically. You write about your experiences on the “frugalwanderer.” What has been your favorite trip to date?
A: Oh, my favorite trip was the one I took in November 2013 to Morocco. It was a mix of the people and the landscape and the food that made it so exciting. And I never thought I’d get the opportunity to travel to Africa, sleep under the stars in the Sahara, drink tea in Marrakesh or go hiking in the mountains. It was fantastic. And once I took the time to budget out how much everything costs and how I could save money on the trip, it quickly became a reality.

Q: How many hits do you typically get when you post a blog?
A: Well, it really varies depending what the content is and whether other websites pick up the blog posts. If it’s just my traffic on a daily basis, you know, it can be anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 visitors a day. When I get picked up by another website, it can go up to 10,000 visitors a day or higher.

Q: What have some of the most popular blogs been?
A: Surprisingly, over the last seven years, my most popular posts have been about how to upgrade ramen soup to make it taste better and how much you’ll need to save up in order to move out of your parents’ house the first time.

Q: Oh, that’s interesting.
A: Other popular posts have been a comparison of prices at Target Canada to Target USA; what your net worth should be by the time you’re 30; and a post about the myth of having to travel when you’re young.

Q: What have some of the spin-offs from blogging been for you?
A: Having my blog has opened up a lot of doors for me that I never would have thought possible. What started out, essentially as an online diary to help me stay accountable for my goals has turned into this vehicle that I can actually use to make money and help people at the same time.

You know, through blogging, I’ve been offered writing contracts with moneyville.ca, The Toronto Star, Canadian Living, Flare Magazine, Metro News and other publications. I’ve spoken to the media on different topics and I get to partner with really fun companies at the same time. Recently I finished a campaign with H&R Block and I’m a regular Twitter contributor for RBC.

So I think that those kinds of partnerships make blogging fun and make it more interesting. In the future, I hope to continue blogging about my journey towards financial independence. And I really love how my hobby and what I’m passionate about has turned into a part-time job for me

Q: If you had one piece of advice for Canadians trying to get their finances in order, what would it be?
A: Oh wow, just one piece of advice. If you’ve never taken a good look at your finances, my advice would be to create a budget and stick to it. I mean, it’s fun to spend money. So we convince ourselves that it’s okay, because we have a better job around the corner, a bonus that will cover the shortfall, or because we think we deserve it.

But the truth is no matter how much money you make, there’s always going to be something you can’t afford. When I first started budgeting, I saw it as a restriction. It was a way to stop me from having fun. I didn’t understand that it was helping me manage my money, so that I could have even more fun with my life.

And by choosing where my money went and how I spent it, and by living below my means, I was creating a really stress-free lifestyle which I never had before, and a better future. So I think budgeting is the number one thing that I would tell people to do.

Thank you very much Krystal. It was a pleasure talking to you today.

My pleasure. Thank you.

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This is an edited transcript of the podcast you can listen to by clicking on the graphic under the picture above. If you don’t already follow Give Me Back My Five Bucks and Frugal Wanderer, you can find them here and here. Subscribe to receive blog posts by e:mail as soon as they’re available.

By Sheryl Smolkin

If there are snow flurries as forecasted for this week, it’s probably all my fault because I took our winter coats to the dry cleaners this past weekend. But when the temperature goes up, the temptation to put away boots and down jackets for another year is irresistible.

Sometimes your financial accounts also need a spring cleaning. In Spring Financial Cleaning Big Cajun Man recounts how he cleaned up his Quicken data files removing redundant accounts so they give him a more realistic financial picture.

Jim Yih reminds us that investing and taxes go hand in hand, particularly outside of your RRSP. That’s because different forms of investment income can provide significant tax benefits.

In spite of the plethora of personal financial blogs and other sources of financial advice available to Canadians, Brighter Life editor Brenda Spierling reports on Brighter Life that Women lag behind in financial planning. Does this sound familiar? She suggests that you create a financial plan and open an automatic savings plan or payroll deduction plan as soon as possible.

This week Robb Engen on Brighter Life writes tongue-in-cheek about Bank Slogans And Taglines, Translated. For example, he says TD’s “Open earlier, open later. Even Sunday” really means, “We don’t care that most of you want to bank online. We’re going to make you come in and speak to an advisor so we can sell you more products  any time, day or night.”

Finally, after a foot injury in January, on Give me back my five bucks, Krystal Yee reports that she laced on her running shoes for the first time 75 days later and that she is determiend to run and blog her way back to top physical condition.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

This week’s “Best from the Blogosphere” has financial tips of interest to both young and older readers.

On Boomer and Echo, Robb Engen does some financial dreaming about how to be financially free by age 40. He acknowledges it’s a stretch and life may get in the way, but says doing the calculations has given him the inspiration to try and attain this goal.

Retire Happy blogger Jim Yih explores the withholding tax you can expect to pay when you withdraw money from your RRSPs and RRIFs. He says it may not always be in your best interest to withdraw small amounts instead of a larger lump sum to minimize withholding tax. That’s because you must pay income tax on your full earnings so you may have to pay more when you file your income tax return.

Actuary Promod Sharma questions on Riscario Insider how Mike Holmes would fix the financial sector. He says Mike’s prescription for home renovation which is get educated; get an independent inspection; and get things fixed can apply equally to your retirement savings portfolio.

Meanwhile, if paying for an expensive college education is in you or your child’s future, you may be intrigued by Oregon’s “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back” pilot tuition plan. Students will be allowed to go to a public university or community college tuition-free, in exchange for a binding contract that they will pay a small, fixed percentage of their annual gross income for 20 years after they graduate.

But on Give me back my five bucks, blogger Krystal Yee says the proposal is just another student loan plan which may cost way more than the degree would cost if you finance it over a shorter period.

And finally, if you are still looking for a summer job or a recent graduate looking for a career position, take a look at a classic blog from the Squawkfox archives. Kerry K. Taylor says on the road to making it as a heavenly musician, artist, writer, or whatever, sometimes you have to stop being so fussy and take that horrible job to pay the bills.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.