By Sheryl Smolkin

A traditional job trajectory has been for young people to finish school, get a job and then trudge up the corporate ladder, one step at a time. But some young people who have seen family members laid off and struggle to get new positions are taking a more entrepreneurial approach to career development.

In Why I Quit My High-Paying Job During a Recession To Work For You, Bridget Eastgaard explains why she recently resigned as a consultant to early-stage start-ups to grow her blog Money After Graduation and develop revenue from online courses, speaking engagements and brand partnerships. Watch for a podcast on savewithspp.com in early January where Bridget answers questions about her past and future career decisions.

For several years Sean Cooper has blogged extensively in various forums about his goal to be mortgage-free in just over three years by age 30. Well he did it! In a blog on MillionDollarJourney, he explains how at age 31 he has a net worth of $667,064. His income includes $55,000 (day job for pension consulting firm); $18,600 (rental income from first floor of his house); $40,000 (approximate freelance income). To celebrate, he had a mortgage burning party, bought a new wardrobe and he’s planning to travel more. But he doesn’t plan to fall victim to increasing his lifestyle to replace mortgage payments.

Tim Stobbs figures he’s about two years away from Freedom 45 and recently he wrote about The Plan for Getting Out. He says it’s not practical for his employer to keep him on for less than 80% or 90% of a full work week. Therefore he plans to keep his current 90% schedule and use his existing flexible benefit equal to 3% of his pay, to fund a further reduction of his working hours starting in 2016. He calculates that he actually has a pretty good deal because with the holidays and leave programs available to him next year, he will only work 182.3 days.

Cait Flanders, the Blonde on a Budget recently opened some fan mail and a cheque  for $100 left her speechless. The reader who sent the cheque said Cait had a profound influence on her life. This made her realize that she does not want her writing to simply document her personal journey to a debt free and minimalist lifestyle. She says, “There are more free resources I want to create, social media campaigns I want to launch and topics I want to discuss. Despite enjoying ‘life with less,’ I want to do more here.”

And finally, if you are shopping for an engagement ring so you can pop the question at Christmas time, Kyle Prevost and Justin Bouchard at Young and Thrifty suggest you Have the Money Talk Before the Marriage Talk . They report that Business Insider has a great primer on how to have the talk about money with your future partner.  Part of this money before marriage talk includes asking about your partner’s money philosophy, assets (and debts), and whether both of you should get a pre-nuptual agreement.

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.